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I would be really happy if there are around 160 million people being active cryptocurrency users in the countries that are shown on this list.
However, I don't believe that this data is accurate. Russia has more than 17 million crypto owners, but there are zero monthly search volumes of cryptocurrency terms. Maybe there Russians are too afraid to search for cryptocurrency related stuff on the internet.
USA has the most active crypto owners and the most crypto ATMs, but the amount of businesses accepting crypto payments is only 6.
That doesn't make any sense to me. The guys at Merchant Machine will have to reveal their information sources.

This is great for we Nigerians. Although the government isn't totally in support of cryptocurrency I love the way Nigerian are beginning to have more interest in cryptocurrency. If you look into the age of those investors the highest percentage of users are the youths which make the future brighter. I believe Nigeria can lead the entire African continent towards cryptocurrency acceptance.

On the table Columbia have the highest number of businesses that accept crypto as payment, that is interesting, that prolly means that Columbia is a crypto-friendly nation right, i don't know if we actually have Columbians here on Bitcointalk forum to give us an idea of what their government thinks about crypto. Having said that, when businesses around the world start accepting crypto for payment, it will be very pivotal to crypto adoption globally.
You don't have to quote all of the OP mate, especially when it is a big one. Having said that, Nigeria has always been one of the leading countries in Africa that is involved in crypto, and mind you that government reluctance to embrace crypto isn't peculiar to Nigeria, it is somewhat the same way globally, though whatever they come up with is usually ineffective on decentralized crypto like Bitcoin, especially when we are considering long term effects.

These data from the table do not look credible to me, especially this part about the number of businesses that accept crypto payments, of which there are only 6 in the entire US, which is completely wrong without any doubt, although the second column lists the capitals of those countries, so that number refers to that and not to the whole country?

We recently had a similar topic that was also posted by the same member, and if we look at the top 10 countries such as Germany, Australia, Switzerland or Portugal on that list, we can notice that they are not here at all - no matter what methodology the authors of the research used, it is strange that we get so different results.

Most crypto-friendly economies in the world (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5406468)

https://coincub.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Inforgaphic-1024x683.png

I think that the authors of this and similar research are very limited in terms of the number of countries they take into account, because if that number were 100 or 150, I believe that the results would be completely different.

Not sure if it's the same for t the other countries on that list but I think the figure for accepting bitcoin in businesses is out by a bit (I've seen quite a few places advertise at their tills that they accept bitcoin - they probably don't have a website/promote it online though).

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Perhaps if most countries have skewed data on that then it's still a good way to compare them though as ones with high crypto acceptance that's known, might have higher unrecorded acceptance too.

It's funny the prediction of owned and used crypto on UAE in 2025 and 2030 result in negative lol, they're using a same pattern on 2019, 2020 and 2021 do determine the next 5 years which aren't correct.

If Nigeria 100% people which own and use crypto in 2030, I think this is when Bitcoin already reach at least $1 Million since most are really want to buy and transact using Bitcoin. Back in the 10 years before, we're only use Iphone 5 with iOS 6 now we're already have Iphone 13 pro max with iOS 15. With just 10 years we're already having quick technology innovation.

Absolutely all data on this study looks completely off; some numbers are heavily inflated like percentage of crypto owners, while some like number of businesses that accepts crypto and number of BATM look lower than they should be. Looks to me like that Merchant Machine pulled those number out of their ass and not by conducting a serious study.


Its one thing to have " a lot of crypto users", but according to that data one in eight Russians owns crypto. From your experience, do you really think that's the case? I have the same question for other members whose countries are on their list, like Nigeria where according to that list incredibly high 42% of total population own crypto, meaning 80 million people.

If those numbers were true, BTC would be at six figure number years ago.

They did reveal the sources, and here's where the problem of the whole "study" (in big quotation marks) seems to be:

Source: Global Adoption of Crypto Payments (https://merchantmachine.co.uk/global-adoption-of-crypto-payments/)

So basically this is a "study" conducted by consulting only one source per item. IMO Coinmap, for example, isn't really accurate and often outdated. Brick and mortar merchants aren't also, in my opinion, the best metric to research "adoption", as BTC is much more prominent in e-commerce. And they considered only the capitals of the countries ... they really were lazy :)

It's a pity, because the topic is important - we really need better studies in this area.

Whilst that might be it, i'm surprised at the number of businesses that accept crypto payment in Bogotá, the capital of Columbia, ~86 according to the data, whereas just 6 in the capital of the U.S., i don't live in the U.S. but shouldn't the number of businesses that accept crypto in its capital be higher than 6? And as for Bogotá, 86 sounds a bit over the top, that was why i asked in my earlier reply if they are that much of a crypto-friendly country as i've not heard or read too much about them. Having said that, it is difficult to know which of all these sort of data is accurate, if they prolly had more similarities than difference in them, or maybe just a slight difference, then we might consider its credibility, but when it's completely different, it is hard to tell.

I don't know how accurate most of this Data is and why the segregation of Africa and South America into a set and then having the main set list, I am not Data analyst but I definitely know many of such list can be from individual thoughts, I think some African countries really should have made it to the top ten on the main list. Countries like Nigerian.
Nigeria has a population of over 200, million of which a good percentage of them a youth, it's no news the the value of the Nigerian currency is great this has lead many Nigerians to source crypto-currency mean. Just a local data many youth has now started to save funds in stable coins like USDT and so on just to escape the fall of the naira this alone should put Nigeria in the list. Not just that many Nigerian names can be attributed to the creation of some reputable Cryptos today.

Africa and South America are not segregated. That first table is based on overall score, while 2nd one is about the percentage of crypto owners, and that's where Nigeria and South America dominates. Well, at least according to them.


I wouldn't take this study too seriously as some other countries with high crypto adoption rate are also missing. By the way, since you are from Nigeria, do you have a feeling that 40% of all people in your country owns crypto?

Credible or not the data displayed, maybe to balance also need data too. Because so far I have not taken the time to search and research, of course, not too much against. However statistically the data per country and everything shown is not entirely correct. India, Vietnam, and Russia could have had more dominance. If counted with anonymous users who are not exposed by the statistical media.

I would beg to differ, the data does seem preety adequate, being a long term ukranian resident and an Indian national I can affirm that you will find more people willing to use and trade in cryptocurrencies in Ukraine, ofcourse after the war the Russians are trying to switch to cryptocurrencies to evade the financial problems but even then the scope is limited and thus they might be dominant but Ukraine have been doing it for ages, therefore I do think that the data might be relevant when applied practically, India is diverse in the market but people are not that willing to use cryptocurrencies since government is so against it every now and then it's even hard to find a restaurant in cp which will accept cryptocurrencies.

What surprises and amuses me the most in this spreadsheet is the exact number of owners of cryptocurrencie in each country. Where are these numbers taken from? The US has 27,491,810 crypto owners and Colombia has 3,122,449. How can a Merchant Machine know the specific number of owners and where does this data come from?

No El Salvador.

Not surprising, despite the good news that came to it as the first country to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. Many of its citizens were forced to know what it is all about. And the stats talks about those who have "used".

So that speaks well for that country.

They got it from different sources below the article. Here they are;

That's definitely some interesting data and nice to see this sort of detail occasionally. It generally trends with the most digitally advanced countries, it's surprising to see Russia in there because I think it is somewhat of a grey area defined by their government, notably absent is also China who probably has a lot of wallet holders who keep everything super quiet because the repercussions can be very serious. Lots of representation from Asian and African countries, another surprising standout is Columbia - I guess their internet infrastructure is well enough advanced and people are choosing to hold this currency instead of money in the local banking system.

Totally agree with you,  it is obvious that the data is not accurate,  makes me wonder how this guys even manage to gather this data,  is it through online survey or do they walk on the street asking people if they hold crypto or not.
In whatever way they get the data,  there is no way it can ever be accurate,  if they get the data through online survey,  not everybody fills online survey,  I for sure do not.
And if they ask people on the street, how many people can they ask and how many cities can they cover? ~ so there is practically no way this type of datas can ever be accurate.

I also doubt some of these stats... I am anonymous since the beginning, and I am still managing to stay anonymous! I wonder how many people think as I do and if I can guess many of us from here skip doing KYC whenever we can! It's interesting to see some numbers, but we can't trust in every statistic presented by "I don't know whom", in this case, some "merchant machine site"!

Anyway, there's no sign of my county, as I assumed! Some of us are behind the world, for a decade or two, minimum...

Probably a dark joke of extrapolation?
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fc/extrapolating.png
So, something like you've had 1 miscarriage so you will get another 10 in ten years?

That thing is just ridiculous, UA going into negative, Nigeria getting 100% and Brazil getting stuck at 14% for a decade.

But! Since Nigeria is already at 32% which means it can grow only 3 times, so we're blocked at 60k and a bit. ;D


Yeah, they went for the capital cities, which is really stupid:

https://talkimg.com/images/2023/05/20/blob163be7adb8312a48.png
https://talkimg.com/images/2023/05/20/blob470f5afe69133d90.png

Let's compare a city of 600k with one of 24 million and ignore that New York alone has more than anyone on that list.

Yes, that's what I suspected, because the US certainly has far more places where you can pay with crypto, but everything else doesn't have much logic and it seems that all these companies just want to promote themselves with this kind of amateurish, almost meaningless research. In addition to these two reports, there is another one that mentions some other countries in the sense that they are "crypto ready nations", and there we see some other countries that are not mentioned at all in these two reports. If someone were to take 10 different approaches, I'm sure they could get 10 different lists with quite different results.

I know another nation with 14 million users and 17% population, and yet the name is not there. It's fine, these lists are never really correct because we rarely get the "all" data pack when we are calculating this. We remove some nations because either bias, or lack of information or disputable data etc etc and that is why we get this stuff.

Like how the hell you do not put El Salvador which technically has 100% rate because everyone has to use it and it is a legal tender and it's illegal to not accept legal tender currency if someone wants to pay you with it. All in all, it is a good list, shows most of the amazing places and it means the world is very interested in it.

The least work I've ever done in my life as a detective as weirdly there is only one country with 14 million citizens and that is Zimbabwe, but if you're going to tell me that 1 in 5 down there is a crypto "user" I would say its daydreaming.


And what makes you think that everybody "has " to use it and everybody wants to use it?
It's just like credit cards here, just because you as a chain store you're forced to offer people the method of payment it doesn't mean every single person in the country has a credit or a debit card.

The reality is that there was much hype and little actual success, of course I already know, for some reality is FUD but here it goes:


Rember how Salvador was going to save trillions of quadrillions in WU fees?

It's not surprising to the USA is on the top of the list and as you can see from the report there are much more bitcoin ATMs there in the USA compared to other countries so also the government of the USA started dealing with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies before many other countries and there you can find many bitcoiners and bitcoin miners they feel more safely comparing to many other countries but the sad thing here is why we don't see countries like El Salvador of the list where they have a bitcoin-friendly government also in countries like Russia there are many bitcoin users in there that's why I think the report can not be trusted completely.

USA is certainly natural if you become a leader because many top exchanges are based in the USA such as crypto.com, coinbase, etc., of course this is a good fact and makes us worthy of optimism with the future of cryptocurrencies.

Maybe in 100 years of using Bitcoin? Estimates were that this would save around $400 million a year, although data from the Central Bank of El Salvador say that only 1.6% (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/bitcoin-struggles-to-take-root-in-el-salvador-survey-finds) of all foreign currency remittances were sent through what they call "digital wallets". Regardless of the alternative offered by Bitcoin, the average emigrant from ES who sends money home still chooses more familiar and simpler methods, which means that people trust banks and the centralized system more.

There is no way you can get 100 percent accuracy when it comes to data collection. There will be little errors somewhere from time to time and that is what I expect with this result. But we do not have to completely condemn it. It is good that Nigeria is on that list because its absence would be raising questions as we know Nigeria is a big on cryptocurrency. But why put Africa and South America in a different group is what I do not understand. That should be questioned.

I always find this sort of data pretty fascinating, and would love for one of these to be ran for the forum. Now I know that probably impinges on our anonymity In some way, but perhaps there would be a way to do it with out that being the case. 

I’m surprised not seeing Australia on the list. From what I’ve found they seem to also be at the forefront of the crypto “wave”.

Well its one thing to know about cryptocurrencies and entirely different to actually own/use some.


Call me pessimistic, but I think that those numbers are inflated as well. According to that data ~6% of people in Europe uses crypto. In my country we have pretty decent crypto laws and I still think that we are far away from that percentage (I would say that we are in maybe ~1% region, if that).


I am well aware of that fact that there are more owners of altcoins (combined of course) that of bitcoin, but even counting that I think that numbers heavily inflated. As I said it, I simply don't see it around me and I do move in those circles attend crypto conferences etc, people around me know that I know thing or two about crypto so its not like I am hiding it so people won't talk to me about it.

Didn't expect that U.S snatch the first place because I thought they have banned cryptos before and they even restrict so many gambling sites and crypto exchanges. Another thing that surprises me is the number of atm's in their country vs to the other countries in the list.

I think in one place, there are many atm's that you can find while in other countries, their atm's will only be found on their main cities but why the number of merchants that accept cryptos are only small in the U.S? I think this has to do with the number of atm's found on their country. People won't feel the need to use their crypto for paying but they will just use the btc atm to dispense cash.

All the data is not 100 percent reliable, but the source makes us believe it. This is from some random source, and the internet is deeper than we think, especially in the case of crypto-currencies. Is this data from crypto-friendly countries only? Because many others use crypto through VPN etc. That's why data for crypto-currencies is questionable.

The unique thing is Ukraine because they are war, the best solution is to use cryptocurrencies, I'm sure the number of cryptocurrencies users in Ukraine is increasingly massive because many donations are sent to Ukraine residents using cryptocurrencies.

And from where do you get your news? Putin's bidet maybe?


Then it might surprise you that they not only have the largest number of ATMs, but the largest numbers of businesses accepting it, the biggest stashes of cryptos, the biggest share of bitcoin mining, oh, in short, like everything! Bitcoin is money! You can't have bitcoin without money and you won't find bitcoin usage where people can't afford anything.


I would say that maybe we're around 3% when it comes to ownership and that 3% only for the 18+ segment, and maybe down by an order of magnitude when it comes to users! Because owners and users are totally different things in crypto unlike owning almost anything else.
I was looking at those numbers one more time and it struck me that 28% of Nigerians own cryptos, now according to statista 41% of the population is under 14yo so let's not even think there is a sizeable market there and we have one in every two adults owning cryptos, including those who are in their 65+ as if we would cut even those it would mean every two out of three would be owning some which is ridiculous.

Another cold shower on all this is that right now there are just 13 million addresses with a balance of over 100$,  of course, one can argue that most hold their coins on exchanges but that brings another problem of its own.

We have a long way to reach those numbers and I wonder what will people who claimed now 20% will say when we finally reach that stage, 300% ownership?

I didn't expect that crypto users in thailand have grown so much. because I thought Thailand didn't have too many crypto users there but I was wrong when I saw the data above. but indeed in Thailand today more and more crypto projects are popping up. and the enthusiasm there is incredible.

I even read recently from various sites and news in Indonesia in 2021 its users have reached 11 million crypto and in 2022 it has increased to 12.4 million crypto users. this statement was directly submitted by the regulatory agency in the country (Bappepti). for too many news sources on google. so I can't link one by one. but this is one of the reliable sources there https://katadata.co.id/amp/desysetyowati/digital/623c2c791aab3/sum-investor-kripto-di-indonesia-12-4-juta-lampaui-saham .

But I understand that Indonesia is not included in the top ten list even though it has many crypto users. because the categories in the table presented by the OP are also based on percent of the entire population.
but if it is not based on the percentage calculation of the population then the list of the top 10 will definitely have Indonesia in it. Like this.
https://cdngnfi.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/goodstats/uploads/images/13/kripto__2x.png
Sourch : https://goodstats.id/article/peningkatan-pengguna-mata-uang-kripto-di-indonesia-pswx2

I couldn't just think and really amazed seeing India is leading the number of crypto holders and users. It was to say that people from there are really having trust and converted their money to crypto as a sort of escape from inflation. Imagining those numbers and if that also happens to other countries, I could say that crypto adoption and becoming a global currency is not possible.

Likely to see more and more countries will be added to the list a few years from now. I am very certain of that.

It is a big market, but the legal status isn't announced by the government. Based on the taxation levied people have begun to use it without fear. India have got good IT technology crowd and that is a major reason why it is possible to see a big number of users getting into cryptocurrency.

Another important thing is the demonetization of Money. The government in India is something like a dictatorship in a democratic country. They make decisions in the morning and anounce in the midnight that the currencies in circulation isn't valued anymore. To overcome such unexpected situations people find cryptocurrencies as the safe haven. :D

lots of great thinking people in india. And if you search for great people in the crypto field then you will find many crypto projects that have Indians behind them. even the number of crypto users has now reached around 115 million users. Even I would not be surprised if one day India will occupy the 1st most users.

And you probably already know a trending altcoin that originated in India. namely POLYGON (MATIC).
I will quote a little history of Matic

And there are many other great altcoin projects from India. because there are many experienced people in the cryptocurrency field from India.

It's surprising to see that our country Philippines is top 10 on the list. Even though we are a 3rd world country, many of my countrymen know how to use cryptocurrencies. We even surpass countries who have better access to this technology like Japan or South Korea.

If the data on the table became true then in few years big companies here will also start to adopt crypto and could offer the related services on their platform.

The complete figures might not be entirely accurate, as other users have discovered here. The second table, which shows the number of cryptocurrency owners in Nigeria, is unquestionably accurate, and the other data indicating the number of cryptocurrency owners in Nigeria which will continue to rise over the next few decades. Even though the country has not yet legalized cryptocurrency trading, many youths and business owners want to invest in it. The majority of young people without jobs discovered that owning cryptocurrencies offered a way to make money and provide for themselves, and as a result, they are heavily utilizing it. I am extremely proud that my country ranked highest on that list.

Yes, I totally agree with what you just said, as Nigeria is a country with great minds, because despite the fact that it's government restricted banks from processing  Bitcoin related transactions, it still yet we came first on the list, which actually shows the level of love Nigerians have for new innovations, tech and most especially Bitcoin in general. So there is absolutely a high tendency in next 10yrs, the number will double or triple

I can say that many people here are still not properly educated about cryptocurrencies but since we are known to be on the list of top consumers of the internet around the world, many people here definitely heard of bitcoin or crypto. The trend of play-to-earn games is one of the reasons why crypto is well-known to our country. Last year during the pandemic, many people lose their jobs and looked for other source of income. Web3 games became popular here and it also exposed them to other utilities of cryptocurrency. Since crypto became popular to our country because of that trend, some universities now will offer a course about blockchain technology which will be a big boost on the awareness about what it really is.

Source: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1589845/social-media-internet-craze-keep-ph-on-top-2-of-world-list
            https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/philippine-universities-to-offer-bitcoin-courses-with-binance