SNEAK PEEK
- Chainalysis published a report on the adoption of NFTs and crypto.
- As per the report, half of the crypto web traffic in Central and South Asia are coming from NFT websites.
- The report also indicated that CSAO is the 3rd largest cryptocurrency market.
Chainalysis published a report on the adoption and market sentiment of NFTs and crypto in the Asian continent. The report was published on the official website on September 21st, 2022.
The report indicates that CSAO which is Centra & South Asia and Oceanic is becoming the 3rd largest cryptocurrency market. The Crypto market in the CSAO countries amounts to $932 billion between July 2021 to June 2022.
The countries with the largest market adoption of cryptocurrencies include Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Nepal, and Indonesia.
India continues to lead CSAO with a crypto market of $172 billion in the past year. Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and Singapore follow the same path by generating over $100 billion in crypto value.
According to the report, NFTs are the driving force behind the cryptocurrency wave in these countries. The report says,
58% of web traffic from CSAO IP addresses to cryptocurrency services in Q2 2022 was NFT related; another 21% was to the websites of play-to-earn blockchain games.
Play-to-earn games or NFT-based games have become increasingly popular these days. These are blockchain-based online games where players complete missions and win battles to get rewards in form of valuable NFTs.
Credit to these P2E games, in-game NFTs and assets have become quite popular in NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and MagicEden. In countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines majority of the NFT traffic comes from blockchain gamers who sell and buy in-game NFTs on the marketplaces.
Chainalysis noted that,
An estimated 25% of Filipinos and 23% of Vietnamese citizens have played a play-to-earn game, and at one point, players based in the Philippines made up 40% of Axie Infinity’s player base.
Chainalysis observes that the correlation between cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and blockchain games is no coincidence. All three entities are entangled together and push their market collectively.
Further, the report pointed out that the growing cryptocurrency popularity is also due to the remittance tool in these countries. It said,
Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh each have $20+ billion remittance markets, and blockchain-based payment providers are beginning to disrupt traditional intermediaries.
Lastly, the report shed some light on the crypto regulations in Asian countries, especially in India and Pakistan. Though the anti-crypto regulations in India and Pakistan have slowed the crypto and NFT market, it has not eliminated their demand and market completely.
India and Pakistan are the second and third largest adopters of cryptocurrency respectively in the world.
