There is much speculation about who holds the most crypto coins. Some believe that most of them are owned by large exchanges, funds or mining firms that use their position to influence the market in their favor. These are often referred to as “whales” — big money investors in crypto — which are usually institutions such as Hedge Funds and Investment Funds that often cause “waves” in the market for small-time investors.
But still, there are also many users that through their collective investment in Bitcoin have put certain countries on the crypto map for owning significant amounts of the digital coin. Various statistical studies and analyses indicate that things aren’t so grim, and there are actually plenty of crypto investors that own and HODL BTC.
We have made a list of the countries that have the most Bitcoin HODLers:
1. The United States
Momentarily, the United States is home to most of the crypto endeavors and activities, with a large number of exchanges, trading platforms, funds, crypto mining facilities, and blockchain-oriented projects. Because of this, most would consider it normal for this country to have the largest number of Bitcoin hodlers out of all the countries.
Surpassingly enough, it seems that the citizens of the United States are not that much into hodling cryptocurrencies as one would expect. But considering that it has the largest population in comparison with the rest, its 8% of Bitcoin owners still represent a large number.
2. Romania
Romania is probably most known for being home to a large number of international firms and businesses which activate in the IT sector, as well as a high number of freelance programmers and developers.
Considering the country’s close relationship to the tech industry, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it has a developed consumer base that is involved with cryptocurrencies.
Because of this, Romania is one of the countries that score high among others that hodl cryptos. Seeing the sheer amount of international companies that reside here, it is logical that cryptocurrency payments are applied due to the low cost of transacting with them overseas. 12% of their consumer pool has been found to own at least one type of crypto, with Bitcoin being the most popular.
3. China
Even though China has made headlines for its numerous crackdowns on crypto operations, it still has a record for excelling in digital trading. The country’s leading exchanges have one of the biggest volumes of Bitcoin being traded on a daily basis.
There have been many reports that show that Chinese citizens have moved closer to power plants to profit from the cheap electricity provided by them and use them to mine bitcoins. However, seeing its current regulatory actions towards cryptos, the number of hodlers might dwindle in the future.
4. Spain
Spain hosts quite a large number of regular bank ATMs which support the exchange of Bitcoin to fiat currency. But as positive as this development is for the adoption movement, it seems that only this market niche is favored in the country, in spite of 10% of consumers having purchased and owning some digital assets. An interesting turn of events, although more growth is direly needed.
As mentioned before, there are many ATMs installed in the country that allow individuals to buy and sell digital assets. In Spain, there are 81 ATMs to handle Bitcoin. This makes Spain the fifth largest country with the largest number of ATMs installed.
5. Japan
Japan is known in the community to be very pro-crypto, seeing as it’s among the few countries to recognize cryptocurrencies as a legitimate means of payment. Because of this, there is a large number of BTC being transacted in and out of the country, with many opting to hold them for the high-yielding investment potential. The country’s crypto exchanges have high transactional traffic.
The country has also one of the most effective regulatory environments in the world related to blockchain technology and virtual currencies. Exchanges that want to start operating in the country must have the necessary license provided by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the regulatory entity of the country.
Now, there are many firms that want to establish themselves in the country and are waiting for regulatory approval from the FSA. Japan is also the country with the second-largest trading volume against Bitcoin around the world after the U.S. dollar.
6. Switzerland
Switzerland is mostly known for its cutting-edge banks and financial institutions, but now this nation has made very clear its intents of becoming a cryptocurrency and blockchain hub. Banks have started opening their doors to cryptocurrency payments, a move that has encouraged many of its citizens to dabble into cryptos, mainly because they now have a form of security.
Switzerland has also gained an important position in the cryptocurrency space with regulations that were implemented in its territory. The city of Zug has experienced exponential growth in the number of companies related to the crypto market operating there.
7. South Korea
South Korea is another Asian country that is impacting the Bitcoin scene. With the Chinese government’s not so positive attitude towards crypto trading, many have redirected their trading operations in neighboring South Korea. With a penchant and skill for tech, the country now hosts a plethora of exchanges and crypto businesses that cater to a population that has an increasing interest in trading and using cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is among the top cryptos also traded and owned here.
Although the South Korean government didn’t take clear measures regarding the cryptocurrency market, there are many companies that want to grow and offer new services to the cryptocurrency industry. One of them is Kakao, the most popular messaging application in the country. Kakao could eventually integrate different crypto-related services to its messaging application in the future.
Furthermore, South Korea accounts for almost 10% of all the BTC traded around the world, after the U.S. dollar and the Japanese Yen.
The United States holds 24.88% of the total number of nodes around the world, followed by Germany with 20.27% and France with 6.04%. China comes in fifth position with 4.18% of the total number of nodes around the world, and Japan is in the 11th position.
China’s Total Blockchain Investments in 2019
China’s total blockchain investments dropped 40% in 2019 compared to 2018. For 2019, China had 245 investment and financing deals, which is nearly 60% less than in the preceding year.
According to a joint study by China’s government-run financial information and media firm Xinhua and financial data platform Rhino Data, the total amount spent in blockchain investment deals has accounted for 24.4 billion Chinese yuan ($3.6 billion). The figure dropped by 40.8% in 2019 compared to 2018.
However, both the value and number of deals have significantly increased since 2017, the report notes. As such, the year of 2018 remains the peak in terms of blockchain investment spending for China so far, with over 600 deals taking place across the year, while 2017 accounted for just 168 deals, according to the data.
China’s blockchain investment spending from 2014 to 2019. Source: XinhuaIn 2019, 292 institutions have participated in investments, with Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou attracting the biggest blockchain projects.
As China has been strengthening its blockchain expertise even more exhaustively after its President called the country to accelerate blockchain adoption in late October 2019, the fact that blockchain spending in the country has dropped in 2019 looks somewhat unexpected.
In late 2019, Xinhua cited a study by American market intelligence firm IDC predicting that the country’s spending on blockchain technology will exceed $2 billion in 2023.
Alongside actively funding blockchain initiatives, the Chinese government has also made progress in its development of a government-backed digital currency, the digital yuan. The People’s Bank of China had researched the CBDC for five years before putting forward its first real-world pilot of the currency in December 2019.
What will happen in China’s blockchain life this year? Stay tuned to find out more about China and its economic and the newest blockchain technologies.
