According to reports by blockchain researcher Chainalysis, the Middle East and North Africa, popularly known as the MENA region, is one of the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency markets, with a 48% increase in the volume of cryptocurrencies received there in the year leading up to June.
While the MENA region is one of the smallest crypto markets, its growth to $566 billion received in cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022 shows adoption is rising rapidly.
According to Chainalysis, Latin America saw the second biggest growth in the same period, at 40%. North America was next at 36% growth, followed closely by Central and Southern Asia and Oceania at 35% growth.
Three MENA countries are among the top 30 in Chainalysis’ 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, with Turkey in 12th place, Egypt taking the 14th spot, and Morocco in 24th.
Chainalysis said, “In Turkey and Egypt, fluctuating cryptocurrency prices have coincided with rapid fiat currency devaluations, strengthening the appeal of crypto for savings preservation.”
The Turkish Lira has weakened nearly 30% this year to new record lows, after losing 44% of its value last year amid a currency crisis triggered by rate cuts.
The MENA region’s largest recipient of cryptocurrency is Turkey, which got $192 billion worth of it in the year ending in June, despite only experiencing a 10.5% growth year over year. The value of the Egyptian Pound against the Dollar has likewise decreased by around 25% since the beginning of the year
Chainalysis stated, “Remittance payments account for about 8% of Egypt’s GDP, and the country’s national bank has already begun a project to build a crypto-based remittance corridor between Egypt and the UAE, where many Egyptian natives work.”
In addition, according to Chainalysis, the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council seldom make it to the top of their grassroots crypto adoption index, as it weighs countries by purchasing power parity per capita, which favors poorer nations.