Brazil tops global crypto adoption index, South Korea ranks fifth

Brazil has ranked first in a revamped cryptocurrency adoption index. As the global crypto market contracts, trading and usage have risen in Latin America, widening adoption gaps by region.

On Sept. 23 local time, blockchain outlet The Defiant reported that Chainalysis assessed crypto adoption by country and ranked Brazil No. 1. The United States was second, Nigeria third, Japan fourth and South Korea fifth.

The index was calculated by combining four factors: fund flows to crypto services, domestic peer-to-peer activity, cross-border fund flows and on-chain holdings. Brazil did not rank first in any single category, but placed second in cross-border fund flows, third in service fund flows and P2P activity, and fourth in on-chain holdings, earning consistently high scores across categories.

Latin America also stood out in regional trends. Chainalysis put the region's crypto activity at $593.8 billion, and said it grew 9.8 percent over the same period, while the global crypto economy shrank 1.6 percent.

Latin America's growth is even more notable compared with the broader market contraction. Chainalysis said that while total crypto market capitalisation fell by about 50 percent, on-chain economic activity slipped only to $9.4 trillion from $9.5 trillion. That highlights a gap between falling prices and actual network use and trading activity.