Regulatory momentum in Washington and crypto exchange-traded funds have pushed the US up two spots into second place for crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis.
The US trailed only India, which maintained the top spot for the third year in a row, and contributed to the Asia Pacific region being crowned the fastest-growing between July 2024 and June 2025, Chainalysis said in its 2025 Global Adoption Index published on Wednesday.
Chainalysis chief economist Kim Grauer told Cointelegraph that crypto adoption is mostly accelerating in mature markets with clearer rules and institutional rails, and in emerging markets where stablecoins are transforming how people manage money.
“The biggest driver of this adoption is utility: whether it’s stablecoins used for remittances, savings in inflation-prone economies, or decentralized apps meeting local needs, people adopt crypto when it solves real problems.”
Pakistan was one of the biggest movers, climbing six spots to third place, while Vietnam and Brazil rounded out the top five.
Nigeria dropped from second to sixth place despite making some regulatory progress over the past year, while Indonesia, Ukraine, the Philippines and Russia filled out the top 10.
The overall rankings factored in four subindexes, which assessed the crypto value received from retail and institutions through centralized and decentralized services.
US rises to second on ETF adoption, clearer rules
The US rose from fourth in Chainalysis’ last report to second place, sparked by increased spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF adoption and clearer regulations that legitimized crypto’s role in traditional finance.
“Regulatory clarity is particularly important for large corporates and traditional financial institutions, for whom compliance, legal and reputational considerations tend to rank highly,” Grauer said.
Farside Investors data shows that the US spot Bitcoin ETFs have taken in $54.5 billion worth of inflows since launching last January, with the vast majority of those flows coming between last June and this past July.
Investment advisers and hedge funds also started aggressively accumulating spot Ether (ETH) ETFs in the second quarter, buying $1.3 billion and $687 million, respectively, Bloomberg reported late last month.
India’s lead pushes APAC to fastest-growing region
Despite regulatory setbacks in recent years, India ranked first in all four subindexes, fueled partly by its tech-savvy population and its large diaspora that makes India a hot spot for crypto remittance payments.
“Grassroots crypto adoption will tend to follow where these real-world needs exist and are pressing, even where regulatory conditions are not facilitative,” Grauer said.
The Asia-Pacific region saw the highest year-on-year growth, with total value received up 69% to $2.36 trillion, led by India, Pakistan and Vietnam, while the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand also featured in the top 20.
Growth in Latin America increased 10%, “reinforcing the region’s trajectory as one of crypto’s fastest-growing hubs,” Chainalysis said in the report, which saw Brazil and Argentina feature in the top 20.
Eastern Europe leads per-capita crypto adoption
The Chainalysis rankings paint a different picture when assessing adoption on a per-capita basis, with Eastern European countries Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia topping the list.
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Other countries in the region that featured in the top 20 included Latvia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Estonia and Belarus.
Chainalysis said a combination of economic uncertainty, a lack of trust in the banking system and strong technical literacy across the region likely contributed to the strong adoption on a per-capita basis.
“These factors make crypto an appealing alternative for both wealth preservation and cross-border transactions, especially in countries facing inflation, war, or banking restrictions.”
Bitcoin is still king, data suggests
Bitcoin remains the dominant entry point into crypto, accounting for more than $4.6 trillion in fiat inflows, the Chainalysis findings showed.
The next category was layer 1 tokens, excluding Bitcoin and Ether, which also topped $4 trillion, while stablecoins were a distant third at just short of $1 trillion.
Memecoins saw around a quarter of a trillion dollars in inflows over the same time frame.
The US led with $4.2 trillion in on-ramp volume, while South Korea came in second at $1 trillion. Bitcoin’s share was particularly strong in the UK and the EU, where nearly half of fiat purchases went into Bitcoin.
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