Cryptocurrency: who are the largest buyers and where is Greece

The main problem that worries the market cryptocurrenciesis the question of whether volatile cryptocurrencies can be an “exit” in an era of high inflation.

Apparently they can. This is being successfully practiced in some countries of the world, such as Argentina and Turkey, where rising prices and weak exchange rates have forced people to turn to digital currencies, according to Reuters.

According to research firm GWI, Turkey had the highest digital currency ownership rate in the world at 27.1%, followed by Argentina at 23.5%, well above the global cryptocurrency ownership rate estimated at 11.9%.

What Turkey and Argentina have in common is high inflation, which has led to the collapse of local currencies and capital controls to prevent potential capital flight. Inflation in Turkey in March amounted to 50.51%, while in Argentina it was even higher – 104%.

The pound and peso fall to record lows. The Argentine peso trades on the black market for about $464 to the dollar, more than double the official exchange rate.

Most safe-haven markets are stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT), which are pegged one-to-one to traditional assets such as the US dollar or gold, offering investors an alternative solution.

“People are thinking about how they can offset currency devaluation,” said Ehab Zaghlul, principal investigator at Tribal Credit, a digital payments platform for emerging market startups.

“They may want to have additional holdings pegged to a stronger currency, so USDC or USDT or anything pegged to a stronger currency like the US dollar is quite attractive,” he adds.

According to Kaiko analyst Dessislava Ober, USDT-Turkish lira trading volume hit a multi-month high last week due to the weakening Turkish currency and the upcoming presidential election.

“In general, cryptocurrency adoption tends to be higher in countries with limited capital, economic and political instability,” note analysts at K33 Research.

While bitcoin, the world’s largest and best-known cryptocurrency, is up 72% this year to $30,000, its highest level in 10 months, overall trading volumes are far from last year’s levels as investors held back after a series of cryptocurrency exchange crashes. , especially the bankruptcy of FTX.

If we exclude dollar volumes in cryptocurrencies, then the next dominant currency is the South Korean won.

According to analysts at crypto investment firm Matrixport, South Korean cryptocurrency trading volumes are returning to levels seen in the first and second quarters of 2022 after a weak fourth quarter of 2022.

“The dominance of altcoins makes South Korea a very interesting market,” Matrixport analysts say.

This is in stark contrast to other crypto exchanges, where bitcoin and ethereum account for the bulk of the volume, they added.

According to the latest report, Greece ranks 33rd in the world in buying and using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with 194,860 Greeks owning cryptocurrencies, or 1.87% of the population, well below the global average.

Reference

The legal regime of cryptocurrencies, in particular the Bitcoin system, varies considerably from country to country. In a number of countries, operations with cryptocurrencies are officially allowed. They are usually treated as a commodity or an investment asset and are subject to the relevant legislation for tax purposes.

In some countries, bitcoins are recognized as a currency of account (for example, in Germany), in others (for example, in Japan), Bitcoin is legal tender with a purchase tax. In some countries (such as China), bitcoin transactions are prohibited for banks, but allowed for individuals, while the country leads in the field of mining due to the presence of the largest production capacity. In Switzerland, cryptocurrencies are subject to the same rules as foreign currencies, and this country is one of the most favorable jurisdictions for Bitcoin startups and public blockchains.

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