India tops Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, staying ahead of the United States as adoption spreads across income brackets.
Chainalysis recently released its sixth annual Global Crypto Adoption Index which tracks on- and off-chain activity to assess grassroots crypto engagement worldwide. The 2025 edition of the report highlights shifting crypto adoption patterns globally, the influence of regulatory developments, and the growing role of both retail and institutional users.
A quick glance at the global ranking shows that India has emerged as the global leader in crypto adoption, ranking first across all measured sub-indices in terms of retail and institutional centralised service use, total centralised service value, and DeFi activity.
Despite undergoing a flurry of pro-crypto regulatory changes under a more positive administration, the United States comes in second place as a result of institutional inflows into crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and regulatory momentum, though it ranked significantly lower in retail centralised service value received, placing only 10th.
Pakistan ranked third overall although its adoption strength is concentrated in centralised services; it fell behind in DeFi usage, ranking 10th in that particular category.
Vietnam, in fourth place, is the only Southeast Asian nation to feature in the top five, underlining the country’s long-standing role as a crypto adopter in the region. Despite a number of pro-crypto moves by other ASEAN countries like Singapore, the country maintains its top position in the region.
APAC continues to be the fastest-growing region with transaction volumes rising 69% year-on-year, led by India, Vietnam and Pakistan. Latin America followed with 63% growth, while North America also recorded strong institutional activity.
Stablecoins, especially that of USDT and USDC, continued to dominate transaction flows even though the issuance of new stablecoins have been popping off faster than popcorns in a pan. However, regulatory progress in the US and Europe over the past 12 months has paved the way for newer entrants like EURC and PYUSD to expand more rapidly.
This year’s Global Crypto Adoption Index did point out two unexpected sources of crypto adoption that perhaps reflect the state of global activity: Higher adoption in Eastern Europe, and broader adoption across all income levels.
This year’s index showed higher grassroots activity in Eastern Europe. Countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia ranked near the top once adjusted for population, reflecting strong retail usage against a backdrop of economic and political uncertainty related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Another major change was the broadening of adoption across income levels. Whereas crypto growth was once concentrated in lower-income markets, 2025 data shows high-, middle-, and lower-income economies adopting in parallel. This could signal that crypto has become a mainstream financial tool across diverse markets.
Read the full reporthere.
