US Remains Largest Crypto Market But Stablecoin Activity Shifts Away

The United States is the world’s largest cryptocurrency market, accounting for 24.4% of global transaction activity, according to a recent report by Chainalysis.

The report, released on October 23, revealed that there was an estimated $1.2 trillion in value received on-chain between July 2022 and June 2023 in the U.S.

Moreover, institutional activity makes up 76.9% of North America’s crypto transaction volume, and activity is split between centralized exchanges and DeFi, it added. 

Our 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report is out today! Get your copy now and learn everything you need to know about the current state of crypto adoption around the world. https://t.co/zJaTvo6YOE pic.twitter.com/8gbdJ2IvnQ

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) October 23, 2023

Stablecoins Shift Away

However, it also reported that crypto activity is falling due to the ongoing ‘war on crypto’ by financial regulators in the wake of last year’s high-profile collapses. 

“On-chain data suggests that North American crypto activity has fallen over the last year, following negative developments such as the blowup of FTX.”

Activity has fallen further this year following the collapses of a number of major banks in the U.S. in March.

Moreover, stablecoin activity is also shifting away from America. “We’ve also observed a relative decline in North America’s stablecoin usage, compared to other digital assets, beginning around February 2023,” the report noted.

Confidence in stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC was rattled following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, where the firm had massive exposure.

The majority of stablecoin inflows to the 50 biggest crypto services have shifted from U.S. licensed services to non-U.S. licensed services, it said. 

“Though U.S. entities originally helped legitimize and seed the stablecoin market, more crypto users are pursuing stablecoin-related activity with trading platforms and issuers headquartered abroad.”

Additionally, the shift has reduced regulatory oversight of dollar-pegged stablecoins in the U.S. 

Congress has dragged its feet in regulating and legitimizing stablecoins despite a number of bills proposed by pro-crypto politicians. 

In summary, crypto and stablecoin regulation will play an important role in reversing the trend of declines in North America.

DeFi Adoption Still Grows

Despite the aforementioned regulatory challenges, DeFi adoption is still on the rise within the North American region, as reported earlier this week.

The overall on-chain value that changed hands in the period between July 2022 and June 2023 is estimated to be around $1.2 trillion, which is just over 24% of the global number.

At the same time, DeFi usage in the North American region has continued to increase by raw transaction volume, especially for protocols with highly speculative trading.