Europe Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Market 2023

Europe Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Market 2023

Europe witnesses gradual adoption of digital assets amidst the fall of the crypto market: new yStats.com report

Digital asset use and adoption is gradually increasing throughout Europe

In the UK a low percentage of surveyed respondents claimed to own cryptocurrency as of March 2022, while also revealing a large gender gap in terms of crypto ownership, as reported in the yStats.com report. Among those who owned cryptocurrency, most of them preferred to own Bitcoin, followed by Bitcoin cash. The share of crypto owners in Germany was only a few percentage points higher compared to the share of crypto curious respondents who planned to invest in crypto in the future as of 2021. Moreover, among the share of respondents who had already invested or traded in crypto, close to half intended to increase their investments in the next 6 months. Germany witnessed a low gender gap when it came to crypto curious respondents, with more than half of women respondents being crypto curious compared to men. While a small percentage of respondents in France had already invested in NFTs or cryptocurrency, Bitcoin remained the popular currency among those who had already invested and those who intended to invest in the future, as mentioned in the new yStats.com report. Furthermore, compared to 2021, the share of adults in France who became aware of cryptocurrency increased tremendously in 2022. With Bitcoin being the preferred cryptocurrency in Switzerland as of April 2022, more than half of crypto investors were interested in buying and holding crypto.

Europe saw acceleration in the introduction of tighter regulations relating to crypto

The adoption of cryptocurrency worldwide is increasing gradually, and Europe is no exception to this trend. In H1 2022, more than half of surveyed crypto owners indicated plans to increase their current crypto holdings over the next 12 months, with the population within the age range 18-39 years estimated to be more interested in doing so as compared to older generations. In H1 2022, Bitcoin and Ethereum were among the most favored cryptocurrencies, as spelled out in the new yStats.com report. However, the decline in value of the cryptocurrency market worldwide beginning in the spring of 2022 led to loss of investor enthusiasm and negative asset price movement across Europe as well. With the fall of FTX and the bankruptcy of BlockFi, law makers in Europe came to the consensus to establish licensing and supervision rules as of 2024, as mentioned in the new yStats.com report. Authorities in the EU were of the view that the new crypto rule book in Europe will enable consumer protection; maintain market integrity as well as financial stability. Although, the crypto crash impacted the cryptocurrency growth worldwide, Europe did not face severe consequences in the aftermath of the fall. In Europe, countries such as Cyprus were most affected by the fall of FTX, while countries such as Germany, Netherlands and France saw limited impact due to the national regulations that saved them from experiencing severe loss.