Infographic | Where the crypto hype is taking over

In India, the number of crypto users more than doubled from 7 per cent to 18 per cent from 2019-21

Cryptocurrencies, even the jokey ones, are part of a robust, well-funded ideological movement that has serious implications for our political and economic future. Credit: Reuters File Photo

For years, cryptocurrency seemed like the kind of fleeting tech trend most people could safely ignore but its power, both economic and cultural, has become too big to overlook.

According to the Statista Global Consumer Survey, Nigeria, Thailand, India, Pakistan and Canada are some of the countries where the number of crypto users and owners increased significantly between 2019 and 2021. In India, the number more than doubled from 7 per cent to 18 per cent over the three years.

Crypto is poised to soon become one of a handful of true wedge issues, with politicians all over the world forced to pick a side. Some countries, like El Salvador — whose crypto-loving president recently announced the development of a “Bitcoin City” at the base of a volcano — will go full crypto.

Other governments may decide that crypto is a threat to their sovereignty and crack down, as China did when it outlawed cryptocurrency trading last year. The divide between the world’s pro-crypto and no-crypto zones could end up being at least as big as the divide between the Chinese internet and the American one, and maybe even more consequential.

(With agency inputs)

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