The world’s leading cryptos reached all-time highs last year, and so too did multiple crypto investors, especially those from the United States, says blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.
According to their latest report, U.S. crypto investors made over $46.9 billion in realized cryptocurrency gains last year, while multiple other countries lagged behind.
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The United States saw estimated realized cryptocurrency gains grow 476%, from $8.1 billion in 2020, to $47 billion a year after, the company highlighted.
The United Kingdom ($8.1B), Germany ($5.8B), Japan ($5.5B) and China ($5B) make up the rest of the top five, although their realized gains from digital currencies ranged from 6 to 9 times lower when compared to American crypto investors.
Despite this fact, cryptocurrency gains in the preceding nations grew at similar rates to those of the U.S. UK crypto investors saw 431% increased gains, while Germans witnessed 423% higher gains throughout the year.
In the meantime, crypto investors from China suffered a visibly lower rate of growth at 194%, rising from $1.7 billion in 2020, to $5.1 billion in 2021. According to Chainalysis, this represented a markedly slower growth rate than other countries.
China, previously known as one of the leading Bitcoin mining countries, underwent severe cryptocurrency crackdowns last year after the local government applied strict cryptocurrency restrictions to crypto miners, traders, developers, and the digital asset ecosystem at large.
More Gains From Ethereum
Chainalysis highlighted the increased role of Ethereum (ETH) in terms of realized cryptocurrency gains by different coins.
According to their data, Ethereum surpassed Bitcoin in total realized gains on a global scale, accounting for $76.3 billion in total. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s gains came to $74.7 billion, or $1.6 billion lower.
Chainalysis underlined that the ETH dominance tendency reflected the increased demand for the second biggest coin due to the impressive rally of the DeFi ecosystem in 2021, which large parts is built on Ethereum’s network and uses ETH as its primary currency.
The world’s largest economy, the United States, however, ranked 5th in terms of the percentage of the population that was involved with digital currencies last year. According to the global crypto adoption index, around 27.5 million, or 8.31% of U.S. citizens made use of digital currencies.
