Cryptocurrency tracker, CoinGecko recently carried out a research to determine the most crypto-hungry nations in the world. Nigeria led the pack with the UAE and Singapore following behind as the most crypto-curious nations across the globe. Other recent reports indicate that Nigerians are heavily interested in digital assets and collectibles because of the monetary crisis in the country and their limited access to financial services.

CoinGecko observed several factors including Google searches that included the phrase “invest in crypto” or “buy crypto” during the research and Nigeria came first in the ranking as the most crypto-curious nations with a score of 371 points. The United Arab Emirates came second while Singapore came third.

Apart from showing huge curiosity towards the crypto industry, a huge percentage of Nigerians are HODLers. A KuCoin study revealed that 35% of adults resident in Nigeria have owned or traded cryptocurrencies recently. This percentage translates to about 33.4 million people. The KuCoin study also revealed that 52% of the country’s residents have allocated more than half of their wealth into digital assets.

The main reason for the cryptocurrency interest in Nigeria is the limited access to financial services in the country. Despite being one of West Africa’s largest financial hubs, many Nigerian rural areas are left without access to banking opportunities. Another reason is the country’s economic issues. Nigeria’s inflation rate keeps rising and it is currently at 18%. As such, it is not strange that many locals have decided to diversify their investments with cryptocurrency

Despite it’s crypto-curiousity, Nigeria did not rank among the top ten crypto-ready nations. Hong Kong led that statistic with a score of 8.6 points out of 10. The United States of America and Switzerland are second and third respectively. The research revealed that these three countries have the most crypto ATMs, Blockchain startups and digital asset legislative and taxation rules. Touching Google trends, Australia’s residents have searched “cryptocurrency” on Google the most while those living in the UK and Ireland complete the top three.

Speaking on the results, CoinGecko’s Co-founder Bobby OnG said that the study is an interesting insight into which countries are still very interested in cryptocurrency despite the bearish market conditions that have plagued the ecosystem for the past few months. He also outlined that residents of the countries at the top of the list are more inclined to “buy the dip” and have entered the cryptocurrency market for the long-term.

Featured Image Source: www.coinscreed.com