MENA based crypto users received $566 billion worth of cryptocurrency, more than half a trillion dollars worth, in one year from July 2021 to June 2022, according to a report by Chaninalysis.
As per the study, this is a 48 percent increase from 2020-2021.
In addition Turkey, Egypt and Morocco once again lead not only in MENA region but globally. All three countries are in the top thirty list of countries with most crypto savings, and usage of crypto for remittance payments.
These could be caused by these countries’ fiat currency devaluations and the huge remittance market in Egypt for example. This is why Egypt has become the fastest growing crypto market in 2022, while Turkey still remains the largest crypto market with its citizens receiving $192 billion.
The report also notes the role of countries in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), and cites the example of Saudi Arabia which is the third largest crypto market in MENA, while UAE stands at fifth largest. This is especially true given the recent stance of the UAE on crypto and the increased regulations as well as the licenses being granted to crypto exchanges the likes of Binance, and FTX.
In Chainalysis’ previous report from June 2020 until June 2021, the MENA region was also the fastest growing crypto market. At the time the Middle East region received 271.7 billion USD worth of cryptocurrency representing almost 7 percent of global crypto value received. This was an increase of 1500 percent compared to June 2019 until June 2020. The growth of crypto in Middle East was higher than the overall world adoption that had jumped 880 percent by June 2021.At the time both Turkey and Lebanon topped the MENA countries in terms of receiving crypto.
