Current status of Strategic Bitcoin Reserve legislation across US states

Interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in 2020 was seemingly higher in Africa and Latin America than some of the world's developed economies. This shows after analyzing Bitcoin trading volume against domestic currencies used for the transaction of the digital coin. In 2020, roughly *** million U.S. dollars worth of Russian rubles were used to buy Bitcoin on an exchange, against *** million U.S. dollars worth of Nigerian naira. The source assumes the currencies are mainly used by the domestic population - e.g., transactions made with British pounds are likely done by UK residents -, and makes the same assumption for the United States, despite the international appeal of the U.S. dollar on foreign exchange markets. Africa and Latin America lead the way Although the source does not mention all countries in Africa and Latin America, the few entries these regions do have in the list stand out. Bitcoin trading volume in Nigeria, for instance, was twice as high as that of the eurozone in 2020. Colombia's market size was twice that of Canada. Whether this interest is for actual payment use on a day-to-day basis or as a tool for investment is not really clear. Data from Statista's Global Consumer Survey on payment methods in Egypt reveals that * percent of Egyptians either owned or used Bitcoin, but does not specify the exact use or purpose of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin: the "Renaissance" Believed by some to fade into obscurity after hitting the news in 2017 and price declines that followed afterward, the world's most well-known cryptocurrency witnessed a "rebirth" at the end of 2020: Within five days in January 2021, the price of Bitcoin soared from ****** U.S. dollars to ****** U.S. dollars. Bitcoin's market cap - calculated by multiplying the total number of Bitcoins in circulation against its price - grew as well, more than doubling in early January 2021 against November 2020.

Consumers from countries in Africa, Asia, and South America were most likely to be an owner of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in 2025. This conclusion can be reached after combining ** different surveys from the Statista's Consumer Insights over the course of that year. Nearly one out of three respondents to Statista's survey in Nigeria, for instance, mentioned they either owned or use a digital coin, rather than *** out of 100 respondents in the United States. This is a significant change from a list that looks at the Bitcoin (BTC) trading volume in ** countries: There, the United States and Russia were said to have traded the highest amounts of this particular virtual coin. Nevertheless, African and Latin American countries are noticeable entries in that list too. Daily use, or an investment tool? The survey asked whether consumers either owned or used cryptocurrencies but does not specify their exact use or purpose. Some countries, however, are more likely to use digital currencies on a day-to-day basis. Nigeria increasingly uses mobile money operations to either pay in stores or to send money to family and friends. Polish consumers could buy several types of products with a cryptocurrency in 2019. Opposed to this is the country of Vietnam: Here, the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a payment method is forbidden. Owning some form of cryptocurrency in Vietnam as an investment is allowed, however. Which countries are more likely to invest in cryptocurrencies? Professional investors looking for a cryptocurrency-themed ETF were more often found in Europe than in the United or China, according to a survey in early 2020. Most of the largest crypto hedge fund managers with a location in Europe in 2020, were either from the United Kingdom or Switzerland - the country with the highest cryptocurrency adoption rate in Europe according to Statista's Global Consumer Survey. Whether this had changed by 2025 was not yet clear.

Most Bitcoin mining occurred in the United States, according to IP addresses from so-called hashers that used certain Bitcoin mining pools in 2021. Likely this is connected to energy prices worldwide: Electricity costs in Germany were over ** times more expensive than in, for example, China - the country that for a long time was the largest crypto miner until late 2021. Bitcoin requires energy for hashing, or the PC processing power needed to build the blockchain. Simply put, the more hashing occurs, the more Bitcoin is being mined. These figures attempt to show where most of this hashing - and, consequently, Bitcoin mining - occurs. Note that mining figures are different from figures on Bitcoin trading: Africa and Latin America were more interested in buying and selling BTC than some of the world's developed economies. How much Bitcoin is mined in every country per day? Due to the cryptocurrency’s design focus on privacy, there is no indicator of how many new coins are created from which location – hence why the figures provided here look at PC processing power, and not Bitcoin themselves. There are figures for the current and maximum supply of Bitcoin, but these do not include the location where the currency was mined. The closest figure would be to look at the hashrate from so-called mining pools – places where miners can dig for Bitcoin – and how much they hashed in the last ** hours. In 2021, the world's top Bitcoin mining pools all came from China, with * pools being responsible for over half of the cryptocurrency's total hash. Can Bitcoin mining be profitable? Bitcoin mining could lead to profits for some, but there are several things to consider. Mainly, the maximum supply of Bitcoin is getting closer, so the algorithm requires more and more processing power. This is reflected in the steady growth of BTC mining difficulty – a metric that looks at how much effort miners are putting in to get a Bitcoin. Indeed, mining firms bought so much hardware capable of mining that prices of these mining rigs grew by roughly ** percent each week in 2021 as supplies worldwide had sold out.

Crypto trader Binance ranked among the largest cryptocurrency exchangers in the world in 2024, with trading volume that was about four times as high as Bybit or OKX. It should be noted that these figures are separate from platforms Binance.US, Binance TR, or Binance.KR. The platform from the Cayman Islands faced investigations from the U.S. SEC, which came to a head in November 2023. Binance did not rank as the most used cryptocurrency exchanges used by consumers in the United States. Binance's settlement with the U.S. In November 2023, Binance agreed to pay a four billion U.S. dollar settlement with United States agencies — one of the biggest corporate fines in U.S. history. The U.S. Department of Justice investigated the platform for years for failure to prevent money laundering and growing crypto theft. The company's founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to the charges, agreeing to step down. Zhao would remain as the company's majority shareholder. The U.S. Treasury announced Binance will be subject to five years of monitoring and “significant compliance undertakings, including to ensure Binance’s complete exit from the United States.” Mixed signals from crypto companies The Binance settlement occurred in a month when overall crypto trading volume recorded its highest numbers for all of 2023. One of the main causes is the sudden popularity of FTT, a token released by FTX — the company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. The developments surrounding Binance caused investors to move away from Binance's stablecoin BNB to the stablecoin from FTX. Earlier in November 2023, however, Coinbase saw its shares fall after announcing its quarterly performance figures.