Most countries in the ’10 most likely’ to adopt bitcoin are in the developing wo

[alyssa85]

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2016/05/12/most-countries-in-the-10-most-likely-to-adopt-bitcoin-are-in-the-developing-world/

Which markets have the greatest potential for bitcoin adoption?

With over $250m of venture capital invested in bitcoin startups to date, much is at stake in understanding which markets will prove most fertile for bitcoin. In addition, many governments and regulatory agencies are seeking to better understand the economic opportunities presented by bitcoin along with the perceived risks.

The new Bitcoin Market Potential Index (BMPI) is the first attempt at providing a rigorous answer to the above question, assembling a new data set to rank the potential utility of bitcoin across 177 countries.

.....

Table 5: BMPI Top 10 Countries
Ranking   Country Name
1   Argentina
2   Venezuela
3   Zimbabwe
4   India
5   Nigeria
6   Brazil
7   United States
8   Nicaragua
9   Russian Federation
10   Iceland

...A country which often features in discussion of bitcoin adoption but which is just outside of the top-10 is China, which is ranked number 13. China’s ranking is brought down by its relatively small black market; according to Elgin and Oztunali (2012) and other shadow economy researchers – ie Buehn and Schenider (2012), Schneider, Buehn and Montenegro (2010) – it is estimated that roughly 10 per cent of the economic activity is conducted informally in China.

In contrast, near the bottom of the overall BMPI rankings at number 167 is Ireland, which recently hosted a high-profile bitcoin conference. While Ireland scores well in some categories, such as technology and bitcoin penetration, the country has wrestled with deflationary pressures in recent years and also has a relatively limited set of restrictions on the flow of capital. Dublin is a global tech hub, however, and the fact that the BMPI does not include a separate tech hub variable brings down Ireland’s ranking.

The LSE in the url stands for London School of Economics. I recommend reading the article in full because they go into detail about how the index was compiled.

To see the full index, click the following link:

http://www.garrickhileman.com/p/research.html

[Daniel91]

I'm not sure that Russia should' be on this list.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

[alyssa85]

I'm not sure that Russia should be on this lost.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

Read the article! It is too long to quote. But basically they look at risk factors - the size of a country's black market, inflation (the more inflation, the more likely people buy bitcoins to prevent their money becoming worthless), plus things like trust in govt and so on. The approach was quite rigorous.

[helloeverybody]

I'm not sure that Russia should be on this lost.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

Read the article! It is too long to quote. But basically they look at risk factors - the size of a country's black market, inflation (the more inflation, the more likely people buy bitcoins to prevent their money becoming worthless), plus things like trust in govt and so on. The approach was quite rigorous.

I would have thought china would be number 1 on that list. So many reason why it would benefit them apart from the fact that the majority of miners are from china itg would seem.

[ranochigo]

I'm not sure that Russia should be on this lost.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

Read the article! It is too long to quote. But basically they look at risk factors - the size of a country's black market, inflation (the more inflation, the more likely people buy bitcoins to prevent their money becoming worthless), plus things like trust in govt and so on. The approach was quite rigorous.

I would have thought china would be number 1 on that list. So many reason why it would benefit them apart from the fact that the majority of miners are from china itg would seem.

China isn't really open to Bitcoin since its quite restricted there; central banks not allowed to touch Bitcoin. The miners only focus on the profit and usually exchange them for fiat and are not interested to adopt it. Developing country can rely on it more since the banking infrastructure or country's stability may be poor.

[Kprawn]

If only one country in that index adopts Bitcoin.. India, then the Bitcoin price will surge upwards. Zimbabwe have a very volatile political environment and dictators like president Mugabe would not

allow western driven technology to spread in it's country. The political support should not be underestimated and is critical to it's success. It is not to say, if something is beneficial to the people of a

country, that the government would allow it. They can make or break an economy. 

[robelneo]

I'm surprise China is not on the list,majority of miners are China based and their big support on Bitcoin has made Bitcoin what it is today but three years from now Philippines and Indonesia will be a strong candidate to be on that list..

[Evildrum]

Nigeria? Are they not the phone scam mecca, this can not be a good look for bitcoin. Interesting seeing South American Countries, do not see it happening there due to power issues politically.

[7788bitcoin]

I'm surprise China is not on the list,majority of miners are China based and their big support on Bitcoin has made Bitcoin what it is today but three years from now Philippines and Indonesia will be a strong candidate to be on that list..

So the key word is "adopt". I guess in this article it means "officially adopt". China will not officially adopt bitcoin, as it is against government monetary policies. However, many Chinese will still be using it as bitcoin gives them freedom. Will this consider adoption?

[btcjoin14]

This list will soon grow more than we can keep up with, but many countries just flat out reject bitcoin and consider it a poison for them. They will soon give in after many other countries before them as bitcoin becomes the most popular digital currency banks try to stop it and spread false things about it.

[Doms]

Once again, Asia is lagging behind in this list as no Asian country even made it to the top 10. Mass adoption may really take a while in this side of the planet.

[pooya87]

I'm not sure that Russia should' be on this list.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

that was a bogus news about bitcoin being banned in Russia, in Russia like any other country there are concerns about bitcoin (anonymity,....) so they voiced these concerns and all these crappy click bait bitcoin news sites wrote Russia banned bitcoin!! they have recently held a huge conference about bitcoin in their capital

[electronicash]

I'm not sure that Russia should be on this lost.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

Read the article! It is too long to quote. But basically they look at risk factors - the size of a country's black market, inflation (the more inflation, the more likely people buy bitcoins to prevent their money becoming worthless), plus things like trust in govt and so on. The approach was quite rigorous.

they could hide their wealth through bitcoin, they shouldn't ban bitcoin in the first place after all they can participate in the market. its an advantage to them if they can sell the caviar for bitcoin, it can definitely skyrocket their economy.

[Yakamoto]

It doesn't surprise me that Bitcoin is starting to thrive in the developing world; they are open to new ideas that can make their lives better, it is a way for them to get and maintain some of their wealth, they can safely store their money, and they can get more of their friends involved with it as well. It's also a great business opportunity, and it allows for monetary repatriations to be sent cheaply.

[Herbert2020]

i am surprised with the list and mostly i am doubting the validity of it. because i was expecting to see some countries like China, Japan and also Canada in the top ten list even with their method of ranking China should be a lot higher.

[Patatas]

I'm not sure that Russia should' be on this list.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

Why not ? The news was about Russian Government banning conversion of bitcoin-fiat which is a good thing I suppose.You can read the article here http://www.coindesk.com/russian-minister-confirms-plans-to-ban-bitcoin-to-fiat-conversions/
Venezuela on the other had has dire situations ,their government sees bitcoins as a currency for cyber criminals.Who said Zimbabwe is dictatorship ? They have a nice list of Parliament members and the city councils.The above list is accurate however the missed out other Asian countries where rapid grown is seen compared to the one's in the list.

[Kakmakr]

I'm not sure that Russia should' be on this list.
Recently, there was some news that Russia will ban Bitcoin.
I also heard somewhere similar news about Venezuela.
Zimbabwe is not democracy but dictatorship.
I don't understand on the basis of which criteria is made this list?
I'm sure that a few countries shouldn't be there.

Why not ? The news was about Russian Government banning conversion of bitcoin-fiat which is a good thing I suppose.You can read the article here http://www.coindesk.com/russian-minister-confirms-plans-to-ban-bitcoin-to-fiat-conversions/
Venezuela on the other had has dire situations ,their government sees bitcoins as a currency for cyber criminals.Who said Zimbabwe is dictatorship ? They have a nice list of Parliament members and the city councils.The above list is accurate however the missed out other Asian countries where rapid grown is seen compared to the one's in the list.

You can have a Parliament and city council and still have a dictatorship ole friend. If the president makes all the decisions and he force his will onto these people, you will have a fake democracy and a dictator as a president. I would add South Africa to this list, because they have been growing faster in Bitcoin than any of these developing countries.

Venezuela should be on top of that list.

 

[avw1982]

i am surprised with the list and mostly i am doubting the validity of it. because i was expecting to see some countries like China, Japan and also Canada in the top ten list even with their method of ranking China should be a lot higher.

Even Russia also we can add in this list, I know some of the people who is using bitcoin earning from Romania, Greece, Switzerland and UK. Even I am little shock while this list.
We have to add few more countries and people who really go with bitcoin.

[BitcoinSupremo]

Whats Argentina doing in the first place, I know they may seem like an open country to opportunities, but I don't know many users of bitcoin are from Argentina, I am a bit surprised by not seeing China at the top of the list or USA which supposedly have the most number of bitcoin users (just an assumption of mine this). Still I remain quite surprised seeing Argentina at the top, any real argument backing it up?

[Snorek]

No. This list is far from being accurate and it is not representing any scientific value imo.
Iceland openly banned bitcoin as harmful unproven currency and now - according to the list they are most likely to adopt it in the future?
Same with Russia: they said many times that bitcoin is not valid monetary system and they will only support Ruble - that won't change any time soon.