American traders gained the most in Bitcoin investment last year, pocketing $4.1 billion in profits by trading in the decentralized cryptocurrency, according to estimates from Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company. The meteoric rise in the value of Bitcoin has minted scores of crypto millionaires, and the Chainalysis report suggests that US investors have benefited the most from the 2020 boom, followed by Chinese traders who gained $1.1 billion.
Following the US and China, the list of top countries was distributed as follows: Japan - $900 million; UK - $800 million; Russia - $600 million; Germany -$600 million; France - $600 million; Spain - $500 million; South Korea - $400 million; Ukraine - $400 million.
Similar to South Korea and Ukraine, investment gains reached the same levels or $400 million in the Netherlands, Canada and Vietnam.
Together with Russia and Ukraine, another Georgia’s neighboring country in the list was Turkey, ranked 14th with $300 million.
The report noted that a number of countries, including Vietnam, appeared to be punching above their weight in Bitcoin investment as compared to their rankings in traditional economic metrics. Highlighting Vietnam’s 53rd rank in GDP at $262 billion, the report suggested that the Southeast Asian nation ranked 13th in Bitcoin investment gains, outperforming countries that rank higher in traditional economic measures such as Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Belgium.
On the other hand, India, which has the fifth-largest economy with a GDP of $2.9 trillion, ranked “a surprisingly low” 18th in Bitcoin investment gains at $241 million, according to Chainalysis. “This may be a result of the Indian government’s historical unfriendliness to cryptocurrency,” the company said, citing a Reuters report that suggested the Indian government was planning to impose a blanket ban on cryptocurrency.
“Bitcoin has given investors in emerging markets access to a high-performing asset, the likes of which they may not have otherwise had access to. On the other side of the coin, it also suggests that countries attempting to limit cryptocurrency usage through harsh regulations are preventing their citizens from taking advantage of the opportunity,” reads the report.
