Blockchain data platform Chainanalys released a report on the crypto gains which says that the year was a strong one for the industry. The report mentions that BTC and Ether built a positive momentum at the end of 2020 and hit new highs in 2021.
Related: Morgan Stanley Finds Crypto's Use as a Currency Can Grow
The Chainalysis team wrote who benefited from the market growth the most. To provide geographic analysis, the company used its transaction and web traffic data.
In total, crypto investors realized gains of $162.7 bln in 2021, compared to $32.5 bln in 2020. The US leads by a wide margin at an estimated $47 bln. Next come the UK, Germany, Japan and China. Chainanalysis mentioned that there are many countries whose overall crypto investment performance seems to be getting ahead of traditional ways of economic prosperity.
Another fact that stands out is that the activity in China has decreased a lot compared to other countries. The country's crypto gains in 2021 were $5.1 bln compared to $1.7 bln in 2020. That means a year-over-year growth rate of 194%.
Although this indicator sounds significant, it represents a lower increase rate than other countries. For example, the US saw estimated realized crypto gains grow 476%, from $8.1 bln to $47 bln. The UK saw a 431% increase, Germany by 423%.
The decrease in China is assumed to be connected with crypto ban by the government. The most notable trend in terms of the country's gains by coins involves Ether gains. Ether surpassed BTC in total gains globally at $76.3 bln to $74.7 bln. Chainalysis believes the demand is connected with the rise of DeFi in 2021 as the majority of protocols are built on the Ethereum protocol.
However, there are exceptions as well. For example, Japan realized around $4 bln in Bitcoin gains and $790 M in Ether gains.