Germany is hot in the crypto world. The central European country knocked Singapore off the top spot as the friendliest crypto country. This is according to the Coincub crypto-friendly ranking guide.
Germany and crypto investments
There are a few reasons why Germany hit the number one spot in the latest study. The number of Bitcoin nodes in Germany is second only to the USA. Germany’s policy towards crypto tax is progressive. This is even when other leading economies are taken into consideration.
The country’s acceptance of cryptocurrency is widespread. And, they made a groundbreaking decision to let crypto investments form part of its huge domestic savings industry.
Germany has a unique institutional stance on crypto. It accepts cryptocurrencies as a long-term investment for savers. Germany’s largest savings institution is a collective called Sparkasse which is made up of smaller banks. It is about to offer crypto transactions to its 50 million members, giving them the ability to trade and store Bitcoin. Sparkasse is also investigating introducing its own cryptocurrency wallet.
Says Coincub, “Offering such a wide customer base access to digital currency transactions by an established mainstream financial institution is a mighty step forward that puts Germany ahead of any other economy. Questions of custody, identity, and fraud have hampered many countries’ policies toward promoting crypto adoption. Potential investors within the bank will not need further authentication for opening a crypto wallet.”
The rest of the world
Singapore used to be number one. They are now second place. The USA is third, Australia fourth, Switzerland is fifth.
Says Coincub, “In terms of sheer numbers, the USA is still a crypto powerhouse with the highest volumes of crypto trading, nodes, and Bitcoin ATMs. It currently ranks at number three. In the Coincub rankings, however, Bitcoin trading volumes or Bitcoin ATMs are weighted in relation to comparative data, such as GDP or population size to give a more balanced account.”
It has been a drama-filled three months since the last guide was put out by coincub.com. Bitcoin, of course, dropped to just under $35k in January, recovering to $47k by March.
Inflation is destabilizing world markets, as is Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.
Other risers
Singapore is still considered a powerhouse crypto economy. It remains a darling of crypto investors. And yet – the government has restricted crypto advertising by Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) outside of their websites. New restrictions on Bitcoin ATMs saw the country lose the number one position.
Over the three months since the last report, there have been other interesting movements. Hong Kong rose to number six from 35th spot last year. This is thanks to a boom in crypto-based courses at leading institutions. Plus Hong Kong has a high numbers of Bitcoin nodes. And it has many blockchain organizations.
The Netherlands, France, and Spain have all worked their way up the chart. This is due to blockchain start-ups, positive regulation and high numbers of crypto transactions.
Switzerland rose eight positions. An Italian-speaking area inside Switzerland, called the independent Canton of Lugano, now recognizes Bitcoin as legal tender. El Salvador is the other other country to declare Bitcoin as legal tender.
Other countries rising up the chart are Romania and Japan. China is still stuck at the bottom. This is due to the ban on crypto trading and mining.
Crypto worldwide
Sergiu Hamza is the CEO of Coincub. “We look to give the most accurate picture of crypto worldwide, and to that end our ranking is always evolving. In Q1 2022, our scoring methodology better reflects the importance of some categories over others, and we have also added new categories including Talent (the availability of crypto courses by leading institutions) Fraud and numbers of ICOs within each country. As events develop, we go beyond legislation or pure numbers and introduce new dimensions that are crucial for defining a countries ‘crypto friendliness’ or maturity.”
See the rest of the rankings here.
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