Brazil tops US in crypto adoption during worst bear market since 2022

Brazil ranked first in Chainalysis' 2026 grassroots crypto adoption index. Chainalysis called the period crypto's worst bear market since 2022. Brazil's crypto economy reached $252.5 billion over the 12 months ending June 30. Global on-chain activity fell 1.6% while the market lost $2.1 trillion in value. Brazil ranked fourth or higher in every category. Brazil ranked second in cross-border flows. Brazil ranked third in service flows. Brazil ranked third in domestic peer-to-peer activity. Brazil ranked fourth in balances. Chainalysis scores each country from 0 to 1 in each category. The firm then calculates a geometric mean. Chainalysis said this method favors countries with broad performance across categories. The United States ranked first in service flows. The United States ranked first in balances. The United States ranked 11th in cross-border flows. The United States ranked 20th in domestic peer-to-peer transfers. The United States ranked second overall. Brazil ranked fifth in Chainalysis' 2025 ranking. India led that ranking. Chainalysis rebuilt its methodology for 2026. The two rankings therefore do not compare directly. Latin America's crypto economy grew 9.8% while the global total shrank. Global on-chain activity remained near $9.4 trillion. Activity was down from $9.5 trillion a year earlier. In 2023, activity declined 23% while the market capitalization fell by $0.3 trillion. Transfers between personal wallets within countries rose 302.9% to $228.7 billion. Stablecoins accounted for 96% of that flow. Inflows to exchanges, decentralized finance protocols, and other services fell 4.3%. Cross-border stablecoin transfers rose 77.5% to $220.3 billion. The average payment was near $3,000. Philip Gradwell, Tether's vice president of economics, said the pattern indicated commercial use. Stablecoin balances remained between $98 billion and $109 billion during the downturn. Stablecoins accounted for 22.5% of global on-chain holdings by June.