Ukraine tops the world for crypto use per person as volumes hit $206bn

Ukrainians trade more cryptocurrency per head than anyone else on earth. What they mostly do not do is trade it under Ukrainian law.

Ukraine ranks eighth in the world for the spread of crypto-assets and first once the ranking is adjusted for population, Oleksiy Semenyuk, head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), said, citing Chainalysis' Global Crypto Adoption Index. Transactions linked to the country came to roughly $206.3bn over the year, up about 52%, on the blockchain analysis firm's estimates.

The index weights on-chain value at centralised exchanges, retail transfers under $10,000, decentralised finance activity and institutional flows above $1mn, then adjusts for population and purchasing power. On the raw numbers India leads, followed by the US and Pakistan. Adjust for the size of the country and the top three are Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia - three of Europe's poorest states, and three where trust in banks is thinnest.

Semenyuk's argument is that the size of the market has settled the question of whether it is a fringe activity, and left a different question open.

"When a country ranks first in the world for crypto activity per capita, we can no longer talk about virtual assets as a niche phenomenon. The market exists, Ukrainians use it, businesses build products on it. The real question is different: where is this business legally located, where does it pay taxes, and how protected is the Ukrainian user? That is exactly what legislation should answer," he said.