The last year showed significant expansion for cryptocurrency in the MENA area, from institutional crypto usage in the United Arab Emirates to remittance payments in the Egyptian market.
Particularly in the combined Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, emerging markets continue to make their way into the cryptocurrency landscape and find a variety of use cases.
According to a recent Chainalysis research, the MENA area has the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency market. Users in the MENA region got $566 billion in cryptocurrencies between July 2021 and June 2022, according to transaction volume. This represents an increase of 48% from the prior year.
Latin America and North America, with growth rates of 40% and 36%, respectively, follow MENA.
About 22 countries make up this region, including developing nations like Morocco, Egypt, and Turkey. In these nations, the use of cryptocurrencies finds application in remittance payments and the preservation of savings.
The use of cryptocurrencies for conserving money and sending money abroad is particularly prevalent in nations like Turkey and Egypt, which have both seen significant devaluation of their own fiat currencies.
Egypt’s increased transaction volumes throughout the period covered by the research can be attributed to regional economic instability. The amount of cryptocurrency transactions has increased by 221.7% year over year. With $192 billion in crypto received throughout the reporting period, Turkey is the region’s largest crypto market.
The wealthier nations of the MENA area have also made contributions to the local crypto scene, albeit in various ways, such as the Gulf nation of the United Arab Emirates, which is home to the crypto haven of Dubai.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia both made it into the top five nations in the area in terms of received crypto value, the survey said.
However, in these Gulf countries, it is more common for major institutions to use cryptocurrencies than for direct payments like remittances.
Major cryptocurrency firms like Binance have been given the go-ahead to establish operations in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Even local entrepreneurs in the UAE are now able to launch cryptocurrency-based enterprises thanks to a local cooperation with Binance Pay.
