An analytical interactive map on cryptocurrency interest around the world as compiled by the Blockchain Center research team shows that the interest for XRP is more concentrated in South Korea and Japan than any other country.
The map visualizes search interest for different coins by country with data sourced from Google Trends, a platform that normalizes search data to facilitate comparisons between terms.
The map listed 5 countries where the interest for XRP interest is dominated and put South Korea and Japan in the first and second positions. Other countries, in order of their interest for XRP, include: Ireland, Slovenia, and Australia.
The analytical map also confirmed that above any other altcoin in the cryptocurrency market, XRP possesses the highest interest in Japan and South Korea. In Japan, XRP posses a percentage interest of 32% while Ethereum, the runner up, recorded 26%. South Korea displayed similar interest ranking as XRP commence 39% and Ethereum grabbed only 34% interest in the country.
The map also showcased the dominance of altcoins in countries across the world. South American country Venezuela led the list with 75%, this is probably due to the economic crisis in the country.
Ukraine grabbed 66%, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, and Japan presented 66.6%, 67.9%, 68%, and 68.4% dominance respectively. Other countries that made the top ten lists of countries where altcoins dominate interest include Taiwan (74.2%) and Pakistan (74.3%).
Kenya Houses the Largest Percentage of Bitcoin Maximalist
According to the analysis of Blockchain Center, Kenya has the highest percentage of Bitcoin maximalists in the world, with 94.7% of searches related to cryptocurrency from Kenya focusing on Bitcoin. Kenya is presently experiencing a digital revolution with booming crypto startups like M-Pesa, a mobile payment system for people who don’t have bank accounts in Kenya.
According to the ranking, Kenya is closely followed by Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador with 92.6%, 89.8%, and 89.4% respectively. Other African countries that made the list of top Bitcoin maximalists include Nigeria, presenting 89.4% and South Africa with 89%. Probably, Africa and South American countries would be instrumental in the mass adoption of Bitcoin.
Ripple and XRP in Japan
Ripple and its digital token XRP have been highly demanded in Japan, this is due to the adoption ideas put in place by SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s most respected firms. SBI Holdings and Ripple co-designed SBI-Ripple Asia purposely to increase the usage of XRP and create the market for Ripple’s cross-border solutions.
The creation of SBIVC Exchange where users receive some certain amount of XRP for free also increased the adoption of XRP token.
As well, the launch of an almost-free payment solution MoneyTap spearheaded by SBI, Ripple and some big banks in Japan heightened the popularity of Ripple.
Despite the increasing adoption of XRP in the country and in Asia at large, a new report released by the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) notes that XRP has lost its first position in Japan to Bitcoin.
The XRP token was very popular than Bitcoin in the country before this time, however, it was claimed that the dwindling price of XRP impacted customer’s interest in the digital asset in the country.
XRP was the dominant crypto asset in Japan in 2018 and held a market share of approximately 51%, and Bitcoin 34.57 %.
Now Bitcoin is said to be the leading crypto in Japan, with 51.74% of the market, while XRP and Ethereum (ETH) have 27.54% and 9.48% of the market, respectively.
