North America has had a 14.8% share in all cryptocurrency activity over the last 12 months, the report explained
Institutional investors in North America are catching up to their European and Asian counterparts in large volume transfers of cryptocurrency — Chainalysis stated in their latest report.
The blog, released yesterday, is an excerpt from Chainalysis 2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, set to be published in September. The report analyses over 30 different cryptocurrencies based on various factors, including volume of transactions, number of transfers and geographical locations.
North America, has taken a 14.8% share in all cryptocurrency activity over the last 12 months, making it the third most active region by volume moved on-chain.
East Asia reported the most activity, with Western Europe coming a close second. Further, the report found that North America hosts a growing class of institutional investors moving even larger transfers of cryptocurrency than those typically seen from professional traders.
The report mentioned a June 2020 Fidelity Investments’ survey of nearly 800 institutional investors across the US and Europe. Of the respondents, 36% stated that they’re currently invested in digital assets, while 60% said they believe digital assets have a place in their portfolio. Moreover, Chainalysis explained that the increasing dominance of North America’s professional crypto market since December 2019 is driven by institutional investors.
“Over the last two years in North America, we’re seeing the impact of a growing class of institutional investors whose transfers account for the growing dominance of professionals in the North American market since December 2019,” the report stated.
The report found that professional investors in North America ‘disproportionately favour Bitcoin’ over other cryptocurrencies. While Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency in every region by transaction volume, it accounts for 72% of all transaction volume in North America.
Altcoins (not including Stablecoins) make up just 17% of activity in North America, compared to 33% in East Asia, the report stated.
“In other words, altcoins are nearly twice as prominent in East Asia compared to North America,” the report explained.
Meanwhile, as institutions have shown a growing interest in the crypto market, regulators seem far behind. Chainalysis’ Head of Research, Kimberly Grauer, stated that lawmakers are likely to relax restrictions on digital currencies as their trust regarding the space increases.
“We expect that as regulators and financial institutions better understand the benefits of cryptocurrency’s transparency, they will start to trust the space more,” said Grauer.
“Institutional money is only just beginning to enter the cryptocurrency ecosystem, so the market is still relatively immature and fragmented,” she added.
