An estimated 4.2 million South Africans, or 7.1% of the population, own cryptocurrencies.

Crypto owned by one holder can of course be used by multiple people within a family or business, with 18% of the population either owning or using crypto – and this latter figure is expected to grow to 43% of the population by 2030, says a recent study by Merchant Machine.

The country with the highest percentage of the population (12.7%) owning cryptos is Ukraine, currently in a war with Russia. Ukraine is currently ranked the poorest country in Europe as measured by per capita GDP.

Not far behind is Venezuela, where inflation exceeded 1 600% in 2021, prompting a rush into cryptos. An estimated 10.3% of Venezuelans own cryptos, compared to 8.3% of Americans.

Read: 5 tips for first-time crypto investors
Other countries with high rates of crypto adoption are Russia (11.9% of the population), India (7.3%), Colombia (6.1%) and Vietnam (6.1%).

Predictions

By investigating the percentage of people who either owned or used cryptocurrencies over the past three years in 50 different countries, Merchant Machine was able to predict the percentage who would be using crypto over the next three years.

This means that if crypto use continues to grow at its current rate, the entire population of Nigeria will be using cryptocurrencies.

“The popularity of cryptocurrency could be explained by the country’s poor economy making alternative currencies appealing. The devaluation of Nigeria’s currency, the naira, will likely continue to drive more and more Nigerian natives to invest in cryptocurrency instead,” says the study.

“The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and India make up the rest of the top five, with rapidly growing use of cryptocurrency. These Asian countries are emerging markets, which may again explain the increased use of cryptocurrency.”

Overall, crypto use is expected to increase by 14.9% across the world by 2030, though the rate of adoption in countries like Nigeria and Venezuela will lead the way.

Means of payment

An expanding number of businesses now accept cryptos as a means of payment.

Top of the list is Bogota in Colombia, where 86 businesses now accept crypto as a means of payment, followed by Caracas in Venezuela (58) and Seoul in South Korea (47).

Merchant Machine advises businesses to become early adopters in accepting cryptos as a means of payment, using online crypto payment service providers like Coinbase or Bitpay.

The study highlights several benefits for businesses that accept crypto payments:

Attracts a wider audience: accepting cryptocurrency payments attracts crypto users to your business, potentially increasing your customer base.
Faster transactions: cryptocurrency transactions are processed much faster than traditional payment methods, so your business will receive funds more quickly.
Removes the threat of fraud: cryptocurrency is decentralised, which removes the threat of fraud or malicious activity as nothing tangible is being exchanged.
A potential drawback is that cryptocurrency payments are not easily implemented – it’s likely that businesses will need to hire someone with the technical knowledge to set this up for them.

But that’s an investment that companies will have to make to avoid being left behind in the crypto adoption race.