Asia accounts for 60% of global crypto users and contributes the largest share of global liquidity, according to Foresight Ventures, a crypto-focused venture capital firm.
On January 9, Foresight Ventures released its latest report “GTM in Asia,” co-published with Primitive Ventures, highlighting Asia’s influence in the global cryptocurrency landscape.
Five Asian countries feature in the 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index, with India taking first place, Indonesia third, Vietnam fifth, Philippines eighth, and Pakistan ninth.
“Asia is an important hub for crypto innovation, users and business markets,” said Forest Bai, co-founder of Foresight Ventures. “
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) like Binance and Upbit dominate the region’s crypto activities, accounting for 37.1% of global traffic to these platforms. The report notes that Asian users often rely on CEXs as trusted intermediaries, leveraging their liquidity and control capabilities rather than directly engaging in individual crypto projects.
Speculative behavior, including airdrop farming and meme-based trading, is also prevalent in Asia. These trends are fueled by socio-economic disparities and wealth expectations fostered by CEXs, which significantly shape on-chain user behavior.
The Foresight report looks at the distinguishing features of Asia’s top markets:
India leads the world in terms of Telegram downloads and daily active users, with Telegram Mini Bots serving as gateways to crypto adoption.
Vietnam has become a hub for GameFi development, with projects like Axie Infinity leading the way in blockchain innovation.
South Korea is a very liquid market, driven by speculative retail trading and platforms like Upbit, integrated into the KakaoTalk ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the Philippines has leveraged its strong remittance culture and gaming ecosystem, becoming a leader in play-to-earn adoption.
Despite regulatory hurdles, crypto is thriving in Hong Kong’s OTC markets and in the use of stablecoins, with Hong Kong acting as a key gateway.
Asia continues to dominate the global cryptocurrency landscape, with nine of the top 20 countries in Chainalysis’s 2024 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index originating from the region. India ranks first, while Indonesia takes third place, demonstrating the region’s central role in shaping the crypto economy.
Indonesia has become a regional powerhouse, ranking third globally in crypto adoption. Between July 2023 and June 2024, the country received $157.1 billion in cryptocurrency value, putting it ahead of Southeast Asia in this area.
