The Middle East region crypto value received is expected to rise above 7 percent by June 2022 representing as well a substantial increase in growth from previous levels of 1500 percent in 2021. These projections stem from the fact that the region has witnessed more acceptance of crypto and implementation of crypto regulations. Leading this growth will be countries such as the UAE, Lebanon, Egypt and others.
From June 2020 until June 2021 the Middle East region received 271.7 billion USD worth of cryptocurrency representing almost 7 percent of global crypto value received, reflecting an increase of 1500 percent compared to June 2019 until June 2020. The growth of crypto in Middle East was higher than the overall world adoption that had jumped 880 percent by June 2021.
These results were showcased in Chainalysis 2021 Geography of Currency Report. While the Middle East in June of 2021 was considered as the second-smallest cryptocurrency economy, the two biggest countries receiving cryptocurrencies was Turkey with a transaction volume of 123 billion USD, followed by Lebanon and the UAE equally at 25.5 billion USD.. Most of the crypto coming into Turkey for example came from centralized exchanges while those coming into Lebanon came from DeFi or decentralized exchanges.
As per the report it seemed that the countries with most crypto transactions utilized crypto as a safe haven from currency deterioration such as the case in Turkey, as well as received crypto in the form of remittances such as that of Lebanon, Egypt and others.
In the previous report, the Middle East registered no regulated crypto exchanges but given the massive influx of regulated crypto exchanges in the region in 2022, the number of crypto received will not only increase but increase as well from centralized exchanges. In just one year, three crypto exchanges were license in Bahrain, including the most recent Binance license, as well as CoinMENA and RAIN. In the UAE as well BitOasis, BinanceMatrix, DEX, FTX, Crypto.com have either received licenses or are in the final process with more to come.
This further attests to the implication that crypto value received will increase in Middle East, even before Chainalysis releases its yearly geography of currency report 2022.
This is also coupled with the fact that other regions around the globe have either been slow to regulate or have cracked down on crypto. Recent examples include Asia. As per the 2021 ChainAlysis report, Asia in had 14 percent of global crypto value received at 591 billion USD. The Asian region overall transaction value grew 452% compared to stats from June 2019-June 2020, making it the slowest growing region. Prior to this Asia had accounted for 31 percent of global crypto value received and in July 2019 was considered the world’s biggest cryptocurrency economy. Mostly due to China’s crackdown on crypto industry and mining. China alone held 256 billion USD of crypto transaction value.
The significance of crypto as a remittance and a safe haven from inflation or currency depreciation is also more prevalent given the current economic conditions and the Russian Ukraine war. As a result the Middle East could be the highest growth region for crypto value received for 2022.