Bitcoin is the largest blockchain-based digital asset in the world, with a market capitalization of $896.7 billion as of December 2021.
It is wildly popular among business enthusiasts, and speculative investors align with other leading cryptocurrencies even in the GCC region.
Let’s check which Arabic country is the biggest investor in the crypto world.
Egypt and Morocco lead
According to a report published by the consultancy firm Triple-A, Egypt leads the Arab world in the number of crypto investors: Around 1.7 million Egyptians have invested in it.
However, only 1.75 percent of Egypt’s population has made such investments.
On the other side, Morocco leads the Arab world in the ratio of investors to its population, since 2.38 percent of Morocco’s population — representing 878,000 people — has invested in cryptocurrencies.
Number of investors
After Egypt was first, and Morocco ranked second in the number of crypto investors, Saudi Arabia is third, with 452,200 investors.
Iraq is in the fourth place with 375,300 investors, and Yemen is fifth with 278,300 investors.
Investors per population
Morocco leads the Arab countries when it comes to proportion of the population that has invested in cryptocurrencies, while Egypt is second.
In contrast, the United Arab Emirates is in the third place, with 1.54 percent of its population investing in virtual currencies.
Then come Saudi Arabia (1.3 percent) and Jordan (1.27 percent).
At the global scale
As of 2021, Triple-A estimated global crypto ownership rates at an average of 3.9 percent, with over 300 million cryptocurrency-owners and users worldwide.
And over 18,000 businesses are already accepting cryptocurrency payments.
However, the top five countries in the “Number of crypto owners” list have India (100 million) and the US (27 million) in the first two spots.
Nigeria is in the third place with 13 million investors, Vietnam fourth with 5.9 million, and the United Kingdom fifth place with 3.3 million.
Expectations in 2022
Rudy Shoushani, a cryptocurrency expert, said in an interview with TRENDS that the number of crypto owners will rise in the Middle East, mainly in the GCC countries this year.
He expecially mentioned the UAE and Bahrain, where legislation makes it legal and regulated to own different digital currencies.
He talked about the Triple-A report, saying Morocco was a surprise when it came to the number of crypto owners. However, he clarified: “This is because of the financial crisis in the kingdom.”
In this context, he expected the Bitcoin price to reach $100,000 in 2022, especially as a result of the increase in the global inflation rates.
He added that the US would face financial struggles, as experts expect, which would lead to more investments in the crypto world.