According to a recent report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, Saudi Arabia has emerged as the country with the highest growth volume of cryptocurrency transactions worldwide over a 12-month period. The Middle East region, along with other countries, is witnessing increased adoption of decentralized finance (DeFi), enabling individuals to transact digital assets like cryptocurrencies without relying on traditional intermediaries.
Read more: Saudi’s SAMA to soon appoint a crypto official
Between July 2022 and June 2023, Saudi witnessed a remarkable 12 percent surge in crypto transaction volume, reaching nearly $31 billion. This growth outpaced other leading countries, including Vietnam (11.6 percent), Nigeria (9 percent), and Spain (6.9 percent), as highlighted in the report.
MENA’s crypto landscape
The paper identified the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as the sixth-largest crypto economy globally, with a valuation of $390 billion during the period from July 2022 to June 2023. However, MENA’s crypto economy still lags behind leading regions like North America ($1.22 trillion) and Western Europe ($1.07 trillion). Chainalysis compiled the data for the report by monitoring decentralized finance wallet services and gathering third-party data to analyze web traffic trends.
UAE’s crypto surge
Highlighting the significant crypto adoption in the UAE, Mazen Salhab, chief market MENA strategist at BDSwiss, revealed that approximately 35 percent of the country’s population is actively investing in cryptocurrencies. This places the UAE among the countries with the highest crypto adoption rates globally.
According to a recent report from investment consultancy firm Henley & Partners, the UAE, along with Singapore, stood out for having the highest public crypto adoption rate on a global scale.
Fast-growing crypto adoption in Saudi
While the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has not pursued a regulatory path similar to the UAE, Saudi Arabia is experiencing rapid growth in crypto adoption. In addition, as the largest economy in the Arab world, it is emerging as a competitive market within the region.
Furthermore, according to Salhab, there is a rising interest in cryptocurrencies among young Saudis. Given that the majority of the country’s population consists of young individuals, they form a significant portion of crypto buyers. Various studies estimate that Millennials (aged 25 to 40) and Generation Z (aged 18 to 24) comprise anywhere from 70 percent to 94 percent of all crypto buyers worldwide.
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