Chainalysis Ranks India as the Top Nation for Crypto Grassroots Adoption

India topped Chainalysis’ Crypto Adoption Index two years in a row, while the Indonesian crypto market made tremendous strides this year.

India has secured the first spot globally in the Chainalysis Crypto Adoption Index this year, followed by nations like Nigeria, Indonesia, the US, and Vietnam. This is the second time India’s grassroots crypto adoption has beaten every other country, as it also topped the index in 2023.

Chainalysis released its report on September 11, analyzing the adoption of the asset class in 151 countries. The adoption index for this year marks the fifth iteration, with the blockchain analysis firm doing the same consecutively for the past four years. The adoption metrics were calculated over various segments, including value received by centralized exchanges (CEXs) and DeFi protocols. The latter was a criterion added this year, replacing the peer-to-peer exchange volumes it used previously.

CEXs Faced Struggles in India

India’s fixture at the top of the adoption index could be surprising, considering the strict action it took against big-name off-shore exchanges providing crypto asset services in the country. Despite that, it showed excellent volumes on CEXs. The FIU-IND (Financial Intelligence Unit—India) banned nine exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, OKX, Gate.io and more, from servicing Indian clients. These firms operated without any licensure.

Furthermore, the FIU-IND pointed out their insufficient money-laundering protocols, which violated India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2003. However, some firms have received permission to operate in the Indian market again. Binance re-emerged after paying a fine of $2.25 million to the regulator for breaking AML (anti-money laundering) rules. KuCoin paid a smaller amount of about $42,000 for its ignorance of Indian laws to start providing its services in the country again.

The Indonesian Crypto Market Growing to New Levels

As India remained at the top despite these occurrences, Indonesia was one of the fastest-growing crypto markets on the list, jumping three places from last year’s fifth position to the third position. It also received the highest amount of crypto in the Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) Region, amounting to $157.1 billion. The country also had the highest year-over-year growth in the region—200%.