After facing many ups and downs, crypto adoption remained stable this year after a lot of investors were serious regarding digital assets. If we look at the data from 2022 to 2024, the crypto adoption in the United States is 21% as well and in the United Kingdom, it’s 18%.
The overall percentage of people owning crypto in France is also 18%. However, amid all this, Singapore witnessed a slight drop from 30% to 26%.
There are a lot of factors that are responsible for crypto adoption and making the market skyrocket as well as slump. In this article we will discuss such factors and throw light on the topic: is the U.S. and its regulators hindering growth?
Factors Affecting Crypto Adoption
- Social Influence
Social Influence refers to the influence people gain from their peers as well as family members. There is a lot of power in word-of-mouth and it can change the perspective of a person as well. It is proven in a lot of studies that social influence has a powerful role in influencing when users have minimal information about any technology. As we all know cryptocurrency is still a new technology for the majority, so we can consider that social influence is very high in this case.
- Security
Here, Security stands for safeguarding oneself from online threats while working over any technology and most people don’t use any new technology as they feel insecure about it. As per the data, the security provided by Bitcoin is really helpful in gaining the confidence of people in the industry and allowing people to explore the crypto industry.
- Awareness
Awareness here refers to one’s knowledge about the technology and its benefits as well as risks of adoption. Cryptocurrency is often referred to as emerging technology which results in restricted understanding. It can clearly be seen in some markets like Malaysia. In this scenario, the increased awareness of technology as well as its benefits makes the adoption of the technology at a mass level.
Global Crypto Adoption 2024
As per the global crypto adoption index report by Chainalysis, the first quarter of 2024 has shown a significant increase in global crypto activity. In 2023, the increase in crypto adoption was mainly done by lower-middle-income countries. But, this year the growth is driven by all income bracket countries.
The introduction of the Bitcoin ETF has mainly skyrocketed the market over the globe, showing year-over-year growth in countries such as North America as well as Western Europe. On the other hand, the year-on-year expansion of stablecoins is higher in the regions such as Africa and Latin America.
If we talk particularly about the DeFi activity, a significant surge in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America as well as Eastern Europe. This growth has also influenced the growth of altcoin activity in the same areas.
Is the U.S. and its regulators hindering growth?
Speculations are roaming all around the world and the United States and its regulators are hindering the growth of cryptocurrencies. The regulator calls it a cautious approach for the industry while others call it a stone in between. Some of the reasons of why the above-mentioned are an obstacle are mentioned below:
- There is no regulatory clarity
As per the data, around two in every five non-owners in the United States and the United Kingdom believe that regulations are the barrier for most of the users before investing in crypto. This data stands for about one in three non-owners in countries like France.
- US election
The United States election is also one of the main factors affecting crypto adoption. Most of the crypto owners in the state plan to give thought to the digital asset policies of a candidate while voting for the next president. Also, as mentioned earlier social influence is a factor influencing crypto adoption so the candidate being a social influencer influences the majority.
- SEC’s role in hindering growth
The unclear stance of SEC for crypto has confused the users but its actions has made it clear that it is hindering the growth in many ways. Many experts believe that the continued case filed by SEC against various crypto companies like Coinbase, Ripple, Immutable shows that the commission pokes its finger in the industry which doesn’t make any sense.
Also, Gary Gensler, the Chairperson of the SEC is always after making the rules more stricter which eventually hinders users in accessing crypto.
Like this, there are a lot of reasons why there is speculation roaming around why the U.S. and its regulators are hindering the growth of the crypto industry.
