All thanks to increasingly progressive regulations and more institutional involvement in both countries, Germany and the U.S. claim top spot in new ranking of most crypto-friendly countries.
Analytics firm Coincub has released Q2 rankings for the year 2022 for the most crypto-friendly countries. Per the report, Germany and the US share the top spot.
US Leaps to the Summit of Crypto-friendly Countries List
In the report released at the end of Q1, 2022, Germany topped the global rankings. At the time, the US came up a distant third. But Germany’s dominance so far is not unrelated to the surprising decision by savings institution Sparkasse to allow Bitcoin investments. Sparkasses’s involvement meant that its 50 million users could buy Bitcoin directly from their bank accounts. A great deal of exposure.
Meanwhile, the United States’ strong showing in climbing up to join Germany in Q2 is without a doubt related to President Biden’s executive order on crypto. The directive aims to keep the sector in check, ensuring financial stability, reduced illegal activities, and investor protection. Biden is constantly pushing for clear crypto regulations and Anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
In its analysis, Coincub also believes that the US’ move on the ranking has to do with Fidelity‘s recent decision. In April, the global investment firm included Bitcoin in American pension funds and expectedly, that created massive exposure.
Other Top-Ranking Countries
Coming in at third on the global rankings is Switzerland. Recently, the canton of Lugano approved Bitcoin as a legal tender. And owing to that move, residents in the area soon resorted to making their everyday payments in BTC.
Surprisingly, Singapore is now ranked fourth. But it might be worthy to note that as of Q4, 2021, this country was topping Coincub’s list as the world’s most crypto-friendly country. The recent ranking is justifiable, however, especially considering recent regulatory tightening from the country’s central bank.
The top five was completed by Australia which has seen a significantly high number of initial coin offerings (ICOs). There are also reports that Australian higher institutions now offer blockchain and crypto academic courses.
A major takeaway from Coincub’s reports is that the regulatory environment and how mainstream adoption is, are pivotal to the outlook of a country on crypto.
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