Crypto Frontline

The latest report released by Chainalysis indicated that Europe is now the world’s largest cryptocurrency economy. With this development, this continent is also now considered the virtual currency capital of the world.

We find this latest cryptocurrency-related news relevant to share with our readers. We think it informs about the present trend shaping the cryptocurrency world.

Based on the news posted online by Euronews, an online source for the latest reports about Europe and the world, as well as the global economy, diplomacy, and politics, Chainalysis’s report comes as China’s Bitcoin prohibitions begin to bite.

Additionally, the blockchain data company’s analysis affirmed that, in the past year, Europe received more than €870 billion, or over US$1 trillion at the time of writing, in cryptocurrencies.

In mid-2020, cryptocurrency transaction volumes in the European region started to surge. This development happened simultaneously when the cryptocurrency transaction volumes in East Asia entered a steep decline.

East Asia was the previous cryptocurrency capital of the world by transactions. According to Chainalysis’s report, cryptocurrency “whales” largely drove Europe’s rapid growth.

They are large institutional investors pouring enormous investment funds into cryptocurrencies. In July 2020, the transfers made by cryptocurrency “whales” amounted to approximately €1.2 billion, or US$1.4 billion at the time of writing.

Then, last June, that figure ballooned to €39.6 billion, or US$45.9 billion. At that point, the cryptocurrency “whales” accounted for more than half of all virtual currency transfer volume in the central, northern and western Europe or CNWE region.

Chainalysis’s report also discovered that most large institutional transactions in Europe went to decentralized finance or DeFi platforms. Cryptocurrency “whales” have reportedly embraced the latter as they offer ways to stake crypto-assets.

DeFi platforms essentially permit long-term holders to profit from interest payments by lending their cryptocurrency to DeFi protocols. The new Chainalysis report also included the fact that CNWE nations accounted for 25 percent of all international cryptocurrency activity.

The United Kingdom witnessed the largest cryptocurrency trading volume in the CNWE region at approximately €145 billion or US$168 billion at the time of writing. This country was followed by France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Furthermore, the Chainalysis report indicated that the CNWE’s virtual currency economy started growing rapidly in July 2020. A massive surge in large institutional-sized transactions took place, with transfers of above €8.5 million or US$10 million worth of cryptocurrency.

We are pleased to learn about Europe metamorphosing into the world’s cryptocurrency capital, thanks to the cryptocurrency “whales.” We think this report confirms that, regardless if one massive country such as China bans cryptocurrency usage, crypto-assets will still thrive elsewhere.

We believe this milestone event shows that cryptocurrency usage, investment, and so forth are truly unstoppable as we are moving towards digitalization of nearly everything, including finance.