Central & Southern Asia and Oceania among the fastest growing cryptocurrency markets

By Gaia Lamperti

Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) represent 14% of global cryptocurrency transaction value between July 2020 and June 2021, with $572.5 billion in value received, according to the latest research report by Chainalysis part of its 2021 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index.

CSAO’s transaction activity grew by 706% compared to last year in terms of raw value, and its share of global cryptocurrency activity grew by 2%, making CSAO one of the fastest-growing of all the analysed in the index.

Institutional payments dominate activity with professional-sized transfers between $10,000 and $1 million worth of cryptocurrency making up the largest share of transaction volume in CSAO.  Though volumes are not quite to the same degree as in the larger markets of North America and Central, Northern, & Western Europe.

However, grassroots adoption in the region was quite impressive. According to the report, CSAO contains the top three countries in the Global Crypto Adoption Index, with Vietnam at number one, India at two, and Pakistan at three, all regions that grew substantially over the last year. Thailand also placed 12th and the Philippines 15th.

Speaking with Chinalysis, Binh Nguyen, the Coordinator of the RMIT Fintech-Crypto Hub and Senior Program Manager of Finance at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology- Vietnam (RMIT), who has studied the local cryptocurrency market extensively, commented: “Most forms of gambling are illegal but quite popular in Vietnam, and I think that’s one reason people here are willing to invest in high volatility assets like cryptocurrency. Low financial literacy is a driver of excessive risk-taking and may create lucky financial rewards for crypto investors during a bull market. Lots of sophisticated investors may be waiting five to ten years and missing out.”

According to Nguyen, the crypto market is particularly appealing to young investors. “Young people here don’t have many options for investing. We don’t have a well-developed financial market for ETFs, options, or futures and the stock brokerage penetration rate is lower than 5% in Vietnam,” he said. “If you have $5,000 to invest, there aren’t many other places to put it.”

To that end, Nguyen expressed hope for clearer regulatory direction from the government,  to provide guidance and support for crypto-based projects and help Vietnam’s cryptocurrency market could mature.

Key takeaways from the report include:                             

• Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency market that we’ve studied with over $572.5 billion in value received between July 2020 and June 2021, which represents 14% of global transaction value during the time period
• CSAO’s transaction activity grew by 706% compared to last year in terms of raw value, and its share of global cryptocurrency activity grew by 2%, making CSAO one of the fastest-growing of all the regions that have been studied by Chainalysis
• Grassroot Adoption: CSAO contains the top three countries in Chainalysis’ Global Crypto Adoption Index, with Vietnam at number one, India at two, and Pakistan at three. Thailand also placed 12th and the Philippines 15^th
• Large institutional-sized transfers above $10 million worth of cryptocurrency represent 42% of transactions sent from India-based addresses, versus 28% for Pakistan and 29% for Vietnam. Those numbers suggest that India’s cryptocurrency investors are part of larger, more sophisticated organizations.