The Banking Executive Magazine - October Issue 2022

Virtual Assets Market Growth and Adoption VIRTUAL ASSETS ADOPTION IN MENA According to Arabian business, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the fastest-growing cryptocurrency market in the world. Cryptocurrency is emerging as a $566bn market in the MENA region and is set to get even bigger. The 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index reveals that MENA-based users received $566bn in cryptocurrency from July 2021 to June 2022, 48 percent more than they received the year prior. Three of the top 30 countries in the 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index are in the MENA region. ISSUE 166 OCTOBER 2022 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 35 Figure 1. The 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index Country Vietnam Philippines Ukraine India United States Pakistan Brazil Thailand Russia China Nigeria Turkey Argentina Morocco Colombia Nepal United Kingdom Ecuador Kenya Indonesia 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Overall index ranking 1.000 0.753 0.694 0.663 0.653 0.609 0.562 0.560 0.541 0.535 0.521 0.519 0.510 0.507 0.496 0.478 0.473 0.409 0.397 0.396 Overall index score 5 4 6 1 3 10 7 12 8 2 18 9 13 19 23 17 14 37 43 16 Centralized service value received ranking 5 4 6 1 3 10 7 12 8 2 18 9 13 19 23 17 14 37 43 16 Retail centralized service value received ranking 2 66 39 82 111 50 113 61 109 144 17 121 26 21 10 19 71 6 5 129 P2P exchange trade volume ranking 7 13 10 1 3 22 8 5 11 6 20 19 21 33 27 34 12 45 9 18 DeFi value received ranking (source: Chainanalysis)