The verdict is in. Singapore is leading the crypto race. The South Asian country has been named the leading crypto economy of 2021. Others in the top 5 are the USA, Australia, Germany and Canada.
What makes a country a ‘crypto economy’ is determined by how accepting the people, the government and financial institutions are towards cryptocurrency and crypto products. Some of the critical factors are:
- How the country’s regulations and legislations affect crypto
- How banks and financial institutions interact with crypto
- How many crypto-focused businesses exist in the economy — crypto wallets, crypto ATMs, DeFi products etc. — and how accessible they are.
- How many people use crypto, and how many businesses accept crypto payments.
If your country checks all these boxes, it likely ranks high on the list of crypto economies.
9.4% of Singapore’s 5.6 million people hold and perform transactions in cryptocurrencies. In Singapore and the USA — the second-ranked crypto-economy — regular payments like movie tickets, real estate and other services can be paid for in crypto. Also, Australia, another country in the top 5, is considering laws to make crypto more accessible and boost transparency. El Salvador — the only country where crypto is a legal tender — is 9th on the list.
One of the critical components is government and civil society alignment because it influences how easy it will be to achieve the other factors. Case in point: some of the lowest ranking countries are Russia, China and Nigeria, where the government and traditional financial institutions aren’t crypto-friendly. Similarly, the USA lost its spot as №1 when the government began their crypto beef.
