A report by a leading analyst firm indicates that Europe has become the largest crypto market in the world. The region has recorded transactions in excess of $1 trillion over the past year.
Dynamic growth of the blockchain sector in Europe
As Chainalysis reports in a report published on September 27, Europe has taken the baton of the global leader of crypto sector activity. The main market participants have become residents of the central part of the continent, as well as the North and the West. One of the reasons for this behavior is the waning interest in cryptocurrencies in East Asia, which until now was the undisputed leader. This decline, as we know, is largely a situation forced by the activities of Chinese regulators, trying to push cryptocurrencies out of their country altogether and restrict access to them for their citizens.
The total value of transactions in the 30 most strongly adopting European countries, amounted to more than $1 trillion year-on-year. Of these, the UK led the way, with a total volume of $170 billion, followed by France, with $125 billion worth of transactions, and Germany in third place with a value of $115 billion.
According to Chainalysis, the rapid growth in demand for cryptocurrencies in European countries began in July 2020. It was then that the recording of higher transaction volumes with an institutional dimension (exceeding $10 million) began. The total value of these transactions increased from a value of 1.4 billion, to $46.3 billion. This is a jump of 3,207%. In turn, the sector that became the biggest beneficiary turned out to be DeFi.
What’s happening in Europe?
The factors raising the level of European interest in the cryptocurrency segment are many. One of them is the behavior of institutions favored by local regulators. Here it is worth noting Switzerland and the exchange products based on Bitcoin there. Germany is not lagging behind either, having approved the possibility for local institutional funds to invest in cryptocurrencies. You can read more about this in the article under the title: “German institutional funds under new law can now buy Bitcoin“. High interest is also present among individual investors, who, driven by market growth, money printing, as well as inflation, have decided to put part of their savings in cryptocurrencies.
What is Chainalysis?
Chainalysis, is an analytics platform that tracks the activities of investors in the blockchain space. It deals with providing data for government agencies, exchanges, as well as financial institutions. The company is present in 60 countries. It is a strong support in the fight against cybercrime. Chainalysis counters money laundering and has also recently brought out guns against hackers responsible for ransomware attacks using cryptocurrencies as means of ransom.
