Hong Kong positioned as the most crypto-ready country in 2022

While public acceptance remains key to crypto’s existence, the road to mainstream crypto adoption requires governments to set up a supporting infrastructure that complements the requirements of the technology and the people.

Factors such as crypto ATM installations, pro-crypto regulations, startup culture and a fair tax regime signal a country’s readiness to adopt cryptocurrencies. Considering these factors, a Forex Suggest study revealed Hong Kong’s position as the best-prepared country for widespread cryptocurrency adoption, with a crypto-readiness score of 8.6. Despite having a bigger crypto infrastructure than the island nation, the United States and Switzerland made it to the top three with lower crypto-readiness scores of 7.7 and 7.5, respectively, as shown below.

The biggest factors considered in the study to calculate a country’s readiness were the number of crypto ATM installations proportional to the population and geographical size of the jurisdiction and the number of blockchain startups per 100,00 people. As a result, Hong Kong’s smaller land mass helped the country top the list.

CoinATMRadar data shows that the U.S. houses 88% of the global crypto ATM installations. On the contrary, Hong Kong installed a network of 146 crypto ATMs, representing just 0.4% of crypto ATMs worldwide. Owing to the smaller area, Hong Kong residents are never more than 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) away from a crypto ATM.

On the other hand, Switzerland has a crypto ATM every 161.5 miles (260 km), while the U.S. has installed crypto ATMs every 168.3 miles (271 km).

Crypto taxes serve as the biggest deterrents to mainstream crypto adoption. Hong Kong, Switzerland, Panama, Portugal, Germany, Malaysia and Turkey share the top spot for the lowest crypto taxes on capital gains.

A country’s efforts to nurture a growing crypto infrastructure depend heavily on investor sentiment. That being said, investors from major economies like Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom have shown the highest interest in cryptocurrencies, signaling healthy pro-crypto competition around the globe.

Opera Crypto Browser doubled down on its effort to improve Web3 accessibility by announcing a partnership with Coin98, a Southeast Asia-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, to bolster Web3 accessibility.

By integrating Coin98, Opera’s Crypto Browser will be able to tap into the platform’s range of multichain nonfungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized exchanges (DEX), cross-chain bridges and asset swaps, as well as the ability to stake and lend their cryptocurrency portfolios, as per a Thursday announcement.