Saxo Group
Summary: Around the world, people are researching how and where to buy crypto like never before. Read our data roundup to find out the top crypto countries in 2022.
Over the past year, crypto has truly gone global in a way that few could have predicted. More people have bought, sold, and invested in top cryptocurrencies, and more people around the world are doing their own research to find out whether it's a worthwhile investment decision for them.
If you're wondering what the current state of the crypto world is, then a good place to start is with people's search histories.
We reviewed the data to find out what the residents of various countries are asking about the state of world crypto in 2022, and which coins people are most interested in. This study was conducted before the crypto market slump that has characterized the spring of 2022, and the ongoing market turmoil will likely impact the future behavior of investors around the world.
If you're wondering what the best countries for crypto are, read our essential data roundup to find out.
First, it's worth breaking down which countries have been putting crypto-related queries into their search engines the most, as a proportion of the population. Leading the pack here are the United States and the United Kingdom, with 8.21% and 8.1% of all crypto queries coming from these two countries, respectively. Given that some of the largest crypto exchanges and institutional investors in the world are in these two countries, this might not come as a surprise to some.
When looking at the top crypto countries, it's worth looking at which coins people around the world are most interested in. From global search data, we see significant diversity across different countries and regions here. For example, Australians lead the world by far in queries about Cardano and XRP, themselves two of the biggest risers in 2021, although both have experienced significant and sustained price drops throughout 2022 so far.
Meanwhile, crypto stalwart Ethereum attracted the greatest proportion of search queries in Canada, the US, and Nigeria. Some of the best countries for crypto in this regard also include several smaller nations, with numerous currency queries coming from the likes of Kosovo, Singapore, and The Netherlands.
If we look at the bigger picture, we get some fascinating insights into the most popular search terms for crypto globally. By far the most popular search terms in the world related to Dogecoin, with a staggering 18.65% of all searches related to the popular meme coin.
Some of this probably relates to Doge's massive but short-lived price jump in May 2021 following Elon Musk's tweet about it, which greatly increased awareness of the meme coin. A famously volatile asset, the price of Doge has fallen by more than 40% since the beginning of 2022. Meanwhile, NFTs were the second-most-popular search query, comprising 15.74% of searches. This was followed by several emerging coins, including Shiba, XRP, and Solana.
It's one thing to google a cryptocurrency out of curiosity, but another thing entirely to search with an intent to buy. That's why we broke down the data to find out exactly which currencies different countries were inquiring about investing in the most, prior to the current market slump.
Again, we found some wide regional disparities. In Singapore, Canada, and the US, "where to buy Cardano" was the top search term reflecting the growing popularity of the coin. Meanwhile, "where to buy Ethereum" was a hot query in the US, UK, Philippines, and India, while the US and UK also topped the charts for purchase queries of Solana, TRX, and EXRP.
In the crypto world, price is everything. For those holding cryptocurrencies, it makes sense to look for expert price predictions to get a sense of where your investment could be going. That's why we also broke down search queries about various price predictions by country, with some surprising results.
In Kosovo, people were most interested in price predictions for the meme coin Shiba Inu, while people in Cyprus led the world in queries about the future price of Solana. Interestingly, Irish people were more concerned with the price predictions for Cardano, while Brits were more interested in the future price of Tether.
Crypto is an emerging asset class, one that is inherently volatile and difficult to trace. It makes sense that queries about the safety and security of crypto would be a major theme in the crypto world.
We saw huge numbers of queries around whether or not bitcoin can "be hacked" coming from the US and UK, while those in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa were most likely to ask "is bitcoin legit?".
Some of us were more interested in answers to recent events, with those from the UK, Nigeria, and India leading the world in queries around why bitcoin crashed, likely as a result of the coin's massive price dive in November of 2021. Of course, the recent slump in Bitcoin may well prompt a new wave of similar inquiries from around the world.
2021 was the year of the NFT. Across the globe, search queries around Non-Fungible Tokens skyrocketed, following a spate of headline news items around high-profile NFT sales. Likewise, the "popping" of the NFT bubble in early 2022 will likely have also stoked interest in this new and little-known asset.
While some were quick to dismiss NFTs as a fad, certain countries were more interested in these assets than others. Singapore, the US, Australia, and New Zealand were most interested in learning more about NFTs, leading on queries such as "what NFT means" and "how NFT works".
In addition, these same countries expressed the greatest interest in going one step further, leading queries around how to actually buy NFTs. Perhaps surprisingly, crypto enthusiasts in the UK were much less likely to show interest in NFTs.
These days, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles are guiding a new generation of ethical investments. Alongside the rise of ESG and hot on the heels of COP26, we saw significant interest in the environmental impact of NFTs.
The US, UK, and the Philippines were much more likely to search for terms such as "NFT environment impact" or "NFT bad for the environment" than any other countries. This likely reflects a growing awareness of the immense carbon footprint of many cryptocurrencies, and a desire to avoid contributing to that with NFTs.
As market-watchers will already know, cryptocurrency mining is incredibly bad for the environment, with the carbon emissions from bitcoin mining alone being greater than the carbon footprint of the nation of New Zealand.
Based on the data from our clients, it's clear that market interest in crypto goes beyond buying and selling cryptocurrencies outright.
We took a look at some of the most popular crypto tracking products offered at Saxo Bank, including Crypto ETNs, Crypto ETFs, and Crypto ETCs, which allow people to speculate on the price of crypto without buying any currencies themselves. Of these, we found ETNs, or exchange-traded notes, to be the most popular.
These are similar to ETFs, except for the fact that they are unsecured debt securities issued by the bank, rather than holding the assets themselves. Of these, the most popular crypto ETNs were the Ethereum Tracker EUR XBT Provider, the Bitcoin Tracker EUR XBT Provider, and the VanEck Bitcoin ETN.
Here at Saxo Bank, we offer crypto-forex trades between three cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum) and three fiat currencies (USD, EUR, JPY). For our clients looking to trade on fluctuating exchange rates, several forex pairs have proven to be particularly popular.
Chief among these is Bitcoin/USD, which made up 40.82% of crypto forex trading volumes on our platform.
These are followed by Ethereum/USD and Litecoin/USD, which make up 35% and 10% of trading volumes, respectively. Meanwhile, crypto pairs featuring other, more minor fiat currencies only made up a minority of overall trades.
We looked at what the crypto world was googling, and this is what we found. For more daily insights and updates on the fast-paced cryptocurrency markets, make sure to check our Insights pages for the information that matters.
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As US economic slowdown hints at a shift away from exceptionalism, USD faces downside with looming Fed cuts. AUD and NZD set to outperform as their rate cuts lag. JPY gains on carry unwind bets and BOJ pivot.
Amid AI and obesity drug excitement, equities see varied prospects: neutral on overvalued US stocks, negative on Japan due to JPY risks, positive on Europe. European defence stocks gain appeal.
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