Summary
Western Europe is a very important market for the cryptocurrency industry. At this stage, the average daily number of people participating in transactions in the region reaches 1.2 million-1.5 million. Among them, Germany and France are the two countries with the most active crypto activities among the eight countries in Western Europe;
In terms of regulatory environment, the eight Western European countries are basically in line with the EU. They are generally open to the regulation of cryptocurrency and provide a stable and transparent regulatory environment;
In terms of on-chain preferences, Western European users love to participate in decentralized projects, are familiar with DEX on-chain tools, etc., and prefer popular public chains and the Solana ecosystem;
In terms of trading preferences, users in Western Europe are generally keen on spot trading, while Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland prefer contract trading, and are generally more receptive to emerging popular assets such as NFT and Meme;
In terms of preferences for centralized exchanges, the traffic of centralized exchanges in Western Europe has shown a fluctuating and rising trend in the past year. Western European users have higher demand for centralized exchanges than decentralized exchanges; in terms of decentralized exchanges, Western European users mainly use decentralized exchanges at the head of public chains such as Uniswap and Pancakeswap; the most commonly used wallets are TrustWallet, Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, and Bitget Wallet;
Finally, based on the above analysis, Bitget Research Institute made five major predictions for the future trend of the Western European encryption market.
beginning
Western Europe is the origin of many humanistic movements and scientific developments. This fertile soil of human civilization gave birth to and carried forward important events such as the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Industrial Revolution. Currently, Western Europe has a developed economy and Western Europeans are generally willing to explore new things, making Western Europe one of the regions with the highest cryptocurrency penetration rate in the world.
The cryptocurrency trading habits and user preferences of Western European users have relatively distinct characteristics. However, due to the large number of countries covered in Western Europe, and the different policies, cultures, and habits of each country, the characteristics of cryptocurrency users in Western European countries are also inconsistent.
This article provides a panoramic introduction to the current status of the Western European encryption market through in-depth market research, which not only helps Western European users find their own ecological positioning and communities with similar interests, but also helps the Web3 project team and encryption institutions better understand and develop the Western European market.
1. Overall market situation
1. Regional overview
According to the definition of the United Nations, Western Europe includes 8 countries: Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein.
Western Europe ranks second in the world in terms of overall volume and acceptance of cryptocurrencies. According to Chainalysis' 2023 Adoption Index data ranking, Germany, France, and the Netherlands have relatively high acceptance levels, ranking 20-40 in the world; Switzerland, Belgium, and Austria have lower acceptance levels, ranking 60-85 Position; Luxembourg ranks after 120th. There is limited data and information available about Liechtenstein, so this article does not focus on the country's situation.
Western European countries as a whole show the characteristics of "large cryptocurrency volume, high DeFi activity, and slightly weak P2P transaction volume":
The ranking scores of Western European countries are mainly supported by "DeFi usage rate/DeFi transaction volume", while the ranking of P2P transaction volume is significantly lower than its overall ranking. This is mainly because Western European users are relatively more accustomed to card binding in the fiat currency deposit and withdrawal mode. It uses methods such as buying coins and recharging legal currency, unlike Southeast Asian users who are accustomed to using P2P deposits and withdrawals.
Germany and France are the two countries with the most active encryption activities in Western Europe. Select the domain names of more than 150 centralized cryptocurrency exchanges to observe the access traffic. In the past six months, the total visits to this domain name set from Germany and France were 48.17M and 35.11M respectively. The Netherlands ranked first with a total of 30M visits. Ranked third.
The German government passed the "Future Financing Act" in April 2023 to regulate the custody of crypto assets and provide bankruptcy protection. In addition, Germany has a strong historical foundation in technological blockchain development, such as ranking second in the world in Bitcoin full node operations.
France’s Financial Market Authority has actively responded to the EU’s cryptocurrency asset regulations and developed additional technical standards for the industry. Some of the country’s largest digital asset players are prioritizing their exploration of DeFi. Especially in November 2022 and May 2023, France's DeFi transaction volume increased significantly. This may be due to users looking for transactions through DeFi tools in environments such as the collapse of FTX, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and the price of USDC falling off the anchor. Chance.
2. Encryption policy and humanistic impact
Most Western European countries belong to the European Union, so encryption policies mainly refer to the EU cryptocurrency policy. Although different countries have slightly different policies on cryptocurrency, they generally have relatively friendly policies towards cryptocurrency, and their anti-money laundering and KYC regulatory bills are also relatively complete. In terms of the influence of religion and humanities, Western European users remain open to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency and are willing to learn about new technologies and new things.
In terms of specific policies, MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) is a cryptocurrency regulation proposed by the European Commission, which aims to establish a unified EU cryptocurrency market to promote digital innovation and the development of financial markets, and provide consumers and Investors are provided with more protection. In terms of the definition of cryptocurrency, crypto assets are recognized as assets in the EU, and tokens other than tokenized securities are not securities. Crypto assets are divided into: crypto assets, utility tokens, and asset reference tokens. , electronic currency tokens and other four categories.
Germany, France, and the Netherlands are the three most important encryption positions in Western Europe. Their encryption policies indirectly affect the policy formulation of neighboring countries, so their regulatory policies are the most representative. Specifically:
Germany is one of the more open and innovative countries in Europe, and its supervision of cryptocurrency is mainly responsible for the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Germany has relatively strict regulations on cryptocurrency, but it also provides a relatively stable and transparent regulatory environment. In addition, Germany is also working hard to encourage the development and innovation of the digital asset market and promote the development of the digital economy.
France’s regulation of cryptocurrencies is relatively open, and its regulation of cryptocurrencies is mainly the responsibility of institutions such as the French Financial Market Authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers, referred to as “AMF”) and the French Central Bank (Banque de France). France is actively developing its cryptocurrency regulatory framework to support innovation while ensuring market integrity and investor protection. The main features of France’s cryptocurrency regulatory environment are inclusive, forward-looking, and generally consistent with the European Cryptocurrency Regulations (MiCA).
The Netherlands was one of the first European countries to begin exploring cryptocurrency regulations. Its regulation of cryptocurrencies is mainly the responsibility of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) and the Dutch Financial Market Authority (AFM). The Netherlands’ crypto policies are relatively strict and focus on investor protection. However, the Netherlands will support and promote blockchain technology and innovation through initiatives such as the "Innovation Center" jointly established by the Dutch Blockchain Alliance, DNB and AFM.
In addition to the above three countries, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein have relatively open regulations on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology policies, providing a relatively stable and transparent regulatory environment, focusing on anti-money laundering and investor protection, and encouraging development of related industries.
In terms of humanistic influence, most residents of Western European countries believe in Catholicism, and Catholics are not much different from the general population in terms of transactions. They look at the risks, volatility, and potential returns of cryptocurrencies. But compared with non-religious or other religious people, they pay more attention to the moral and ethical aspects of their financial decisions. For example, they may consider "honesty and justice," "social responsibility," and "community development" when investing in cryptocurrency. principles.
3. Market volume
In December 2023, the number of currency speculators DAU on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges across Western Europe was approximately 640,000-750,000. With the passage of the BTC Spot ETF and the total market value of the cryptocurrency market continuing to rise, by February 2024, the number of currency speculators in Western Europe on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges will reach approximately 1.2 million-1.5 million DAU.
In December 2023, Germany ranked first in Western European countries with DAU of 260,000-310,000, France and the Netherlands had DAU in the range of 100,000-150,000, and Switzerland, Austria, and Belgium had DAU in the range of 40,000-6 Range of tens of thousands.
It can be seen from the estimation results:
Worldwide: Compared with the same period last year, the traffic rebound in Western Europe in December 2023 is generally weaker than that of India (a year-on-year increase of 59%), Turkey (a year-on-year increase of 39%), and the same as Vietnam (a year-on-year increase of 21%) and South Africa (a year-on-year increase of 21%). (a year-on-year increase of 26%), which is stronger than Russia (a year-on-year decrease of 19%) and several other representative countries.
Among Western European countries: Germany and Austria saw the fastest increase in the number of transaction users in December 2023 compared with December 2022, with increases of 69% and 70% respectively, which were significantly higher than the increases in several other Western European countries (15%- 20%).
2. Characteristics of local cryptocurrency users
Each region of the eight Western European countries has different user characteristics. The second part will analyze the characteristics of cryptocurrency users in Western Europe from three dimensions: user trading habits, popular projects and sectors, and local social media.
1. User trading habits
1.1 Overall portrait of users in Western European countries
Image: Western European cryptocurrency user habits word cloud
Source: Google hot words
Western European users are open to cryptocurrency transactions and project interactions, and generally have the following characteristics:
Educational levels are generally higher in Western Europe, and generally speaking, users have a deeper understanding of the technical principles and market dynamics of cryptocurrencies;
Western European users pay more attention to risks when investing in cryptocurrencies. They focus on long-term returns, so they do more spot trading and financial management;
Users in Western Europe are happy to participate in various online forums, community AMAs, offline gatherings, etc. to exchange market information, share technology and experience, discuss market trends, etc.;
Western European users value the law and pay more attention to anti-money laundering and KYC regulations when using cryptocurrencies.
1.2 Transaction and interaction habits of users in Western European countries
【Germany】
In terms of trading, Germans like contract trading and mainly trade mainstream currencies. Nearly half of them mainly trade BTC. In spot trading, about 10% of German users are involved in meme currency speculation. In addition, about a quarter of German users expressed interest in NFT transactions.
In terms of application interaction, according to the report "German Cryptocurrency Holders" released by Statista, German users' participation in game projects such as Alien Worlds and Gala Games ranks among the top in the world. Other Dex Tool, Web3 task platform, IDO platform, DEFI The projects all have a certain degree of participation, and the overall acceptance of projects on the chain is high.
【France】
In terms of trading, unlike the Germans, the French prefer spot trading and long-term holdings. According to Triple A data, 72.8% of cryptocurrency participants trade BTC; 45.3% of French users hold cryptocurrency with a market value of less than 1,000 euros. French users tend to regard cryptocurrency as a means of diversifying investments.
In terms of application interaction, French users’ participation in Galxe (web3 tasks), Splinterlands (games), GMX (DEFI), and HOOKED (WEB3 education) projects ranks among the top in the world. Other track projects have a certain scale of participation, which has great influence on the chain. Project acceptance is high.
【Netherlands】
In terms of trading, the Dutch mainly engage in contract trading. There are many Internet celebrities on Youtube who share cryptocurrency trading. They mainly trade using technical indicators + contracts, which has a great impact on the trading habits of Dutch users.
In terms of application interaction, Dutch users have a certain degree of participation in the Defi track, among which Dydx participation is among the highest in the world; followed by Dextool and web3 task platform projects; the overall participation traffic scale is at the mid-to-high level in the world, and there are relatively good DeFi and Dex copycats. Coin acceptance
The trading habits of users in [Switzerland] are similar to [Germany], and the trading habits of users in [Belgium] are similar to [Netherlands]. When it comes to the choice of strong local exchanges, users in Switzerland and Germany both like to use Bitpanda, while users in Belgium and the Netherlands like to use Bitpanda. Use Bitvavo.
Due to the small number of user samples in [Austria], [Luxembourg], and [Liechtenstein], there may be large errors in the summary results, so no specific summary will be made. The habits of its users are similar to those of the other five surrounding Western European countries.
2. Popular sections and projects
Judging from popular sectors and project participation, users in Western Europe love to participate in decentralized projects, are familiar with on-chain tools such as Dex, and prefer popular public chains and the Solana ecosystem.
(1) Popular projects & popular sections
Traffic situation of popular projects for users in Germany and France (2023.7 - 2023.12)
Data source: SimilarWeb
[Germany]: German users have high participation in Dextools (on-chain tokens), Web3 task platform, and NFT transactions. Four of the top ten visited projects are Dextools-like on-chain market websites, indicating a high enthusiasm for meme currency trading; followed by the Web3 task platform and NFT trading, indicating that German users have a deep understanding and acceptance of the decentralized ecology.
[France]: French users have the highest participation in the decentralized ecology in Western Europe, and have extremely high traffic in using Dex tools and Dex transactions on the chain; NFT transactions are mainly on the Opensea and Magiceden platforms; on the other hand, there are a small number of users using them Sandbox and Axie have low penetration rates in the gaming sector.
Traffic situation of popular projects for users in the Netherlands and Switzerland (2023.7 - 2023.12)
Data source: SimilarWeb
[Netherlands]: Dutch users have a high degree of use of Dex tools and NFT platforms. They use Dex transactions as a supporting tool and have a good foundation for using decentralized applications. They are involved in Defi and Social tracks, which are relatively rich.
[Switzerland]: Switzerland is not very involved in the decentralized ecosystem. It mainly uses Dex transactions and Dex tools like Uniswap. NFT is also used to a certain extent, and participation in other tracks is extremely low;
Traffic situation of popular projects among users in Belgium and Austria (2023.7 - 2023.12)
Data source: SimilarWeb
[Belgium]: Belgian users mainly participate in NFT transactions and use Dex tool products. Opensea and Dexscreener have the highest traffic, but the overall base is still low in Western Europe, and there is basically no participation in other tracks;
[Austria]: Austria has basically no participation in the decentralized ecosystem. Opensea and mainstream Dex have a certain amount of usage.
[Luxembourg], [Liechtenstein]: Due to the small number of user samples, there may be large errors in the summary results, and no specific summary will be made. Its users have similar habits to those of other surrounding Western European countries.
(2) Western European users are most concerned about cryptocurrency topics in the past three months
Use Google Search to see what Western European users are paying attention to:
Judging from the search popularity of cryptocurrency-related terms on Google by Western European users, from December 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024, users in Western Europe mainly focused on:
(1) Solana Ecosystem (JUP, BONK, ORCA and DePIN projects):
In Q4 of 2023, with the continuous announcement of JUP, PYTH, and JTO’s currency issuance and airdrops, which have generated huge traffic and wealth effects, various fundamental data of Solana’s entire ecosystem have increased strongly, with TVL doubling in a single month, and ecological head DEX trading volume Breaking new highs.
The surge in Helium (HNT), Helium Mobile (MOBILE), Hivemapper (HONEY) and the launch of multiple well-known exchanges have brought the DePIN track into the mainstream. The previous high of HNT currency price was 50 US dollars, and it is currently less than 10 US dollars. The market is full of expectations for its future growth.
(2) Forget:
Manta Network released its token economy in mid-January, and opened the Into the Blue airdrop on January 18. Ecological TVL continued to rise before and after the airdrop, and the token was listed on multiple well-known exchanges. Later, it was widely discussed by the community and media due to DDoS attacks.
In late February, the restaking liquidity staking project ether.fi was launched on the Manta Pacific platform. Manta Pacific users can pledge ETH to the ether.fi protocol.
(3) OK:
RWA protocol Ondo Finance, in late January, unveiled its ecosystem directory, including with providers in liquidity, custody and other key areas. Among them, asset management companies and trust companies include Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, etc.
Ondo Finance originally focused on the Laas (liquidity services) track. It transitioned to the RWA track in January 2023. TVL has grown rapidly and is an excellent case of successful transformation during the project bottleneck period.
(4) Pay close attention to the second and third echelon public chains:
The inclusion of CRO, FTM, and SUI on the list can prove to a certain extent that users in Western Europe have continued to pay attention to these public chains even if there are no particularly big benefits or major news.
The number of searches for Robinhood by "Germany" users was among the top 1 during this period, which may mean that there is a high degree of overlap between German stock investors and currency traders, or that there is a group of users in Germany who are accustomed to trading currencies on Roobinhood.
The top trending searches for "France", "Netherlands" and "Belgium" during this period were all Manta. In addition to the rapid growth of TVL before and after the ecological airdrop, it may also be related to the fact that the project suffered DDoS attacks at that time, which led to the exposure of multiple English media reports. related.
Countries have different concerns about second- and third-tier public chains during this period:
"Germany" users care more about Injective and Sui;
"France" users pay attention to MANTA and Dymension (DYM) of the modular settlement layer Layer1;
It is surprising that the Top 1 hot search for "Switzerland" during this period is Polkadot (DOT), because Polkadot seems to have been relatively quiet throughout the past bear market cycle and the recent rebound cycle;
"The Netherlands" focuses on Bitcoin Layer 2's Stacks and Cronos public chains;
"Belgium" focuses on Sui, Avalanche and Elrond;
"Austria" follows Polygon.
3. Local social media
The main battlefields of local communities in Western European countries are Twitter and Youtube. The languages used are mainly the official languages of the countries, but English content is also widely spread in Western European countries.
In terms of discussion content, each country has different levels of understanding and attention to blockchain, ranging from macroeconomics, the impact of hot news on currency prices, specific transaction analysis, and inventory and ordering of altcoins such as MEME to basic "how to" Basic knowledge such as "creating smart contracts" or "how to trade altcoins" are all covered.
3. Competitive landscape and advantages of each platform
1. Centralized exchange
Judging from the UV (unique visitor) growth rate of Western European users visiting centralized exchanges:
In the past year, the total traffic of users in Western Europe visiting centralized exchanges has generally shown a significant upward trend, with the most obvious increases in Germany, Switzerland, and Poland. Germany and Switzerland increased by more than 50% year-on-year, and Poland even reached a 145% increase. The growth in France and Belgium was not obvious, and Belgium even experienced a 6.8% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Judging from the absolute value of Western European users visiting centralized exchanges:
(1) In the past year, the monthly average UV in Germany and France exceeded 1M, with Germany leading the way at 1.78M;
(2) The traffic data of decentralized exchanges is only one-tenth of that of centralized exchanges. Taking Germany as an example, in the past year, the UV of German users visiting mainstream decentralized exchanges was less than 150k, and the UV of its centralized exchanges was 11.8 times that amount. The situation in other Western European countries is similar to Germany. Centralized exchanges are still the main place for Western European users to trade cryptocurrencies, with a volume that is approximately ten times that of decentralized exchanges.
2. Decentralized exchange
Users in Western European countries use decentralized exchanges more frequently, and their main usage habits are concentrated in decentralized exchanges at the top of various public chains, such as Uniswap, Pancakeswap, Raydium, etc. There are also cases where decentralized exchange aggregation products are used, such as 1inch, Jupiter, etc.
Most users log in to these decentralized exchanges directly, and some log in through Google searches and social media links. This shows that users in Western Europe place more emphasis on popularity when it comes to their habit of using decentralized exchanges. Once they form a habit of using it, they will have a certain degree of loyalty to the brand.
Germany
DEX competitive landscape
German users have a higher proportion of using decentralized exchanges among Western European countries, among which UniSwap, PancakeSwap, 1inch, etc. are all decentralized exchange products used by users. From the perspective of each public chain, the DEX at the head of the public chain has high traffic performance in Germany. Active public chains include Ethereum, BSC, Solana, Avalanche, Cosmos, etc. With the recovery of the Solana ecosystem from October to December 2023, Solana-related decentralized exchanges such as Raydium have seen traffic recovery.
DEX traffic entrance
German users mainly log in to decentralized exchange websites through direct searches. It is worth noting that social networking sites such as Twitter/Youtube are also common entrances for German users to enter decentralized exchanges, as are cryptocurrency information and information websites such as CMC/CG/Defillama. There are also large traffic and conversion volumes.
France
Summary of DEX competitive landscape
The traffic of French users on PancakeSwap far exceeds that of other decentralized exchanges, indicating that French users prefer to trade assets on the BSC chain. The remaining public chains are all top decentralized exchanges with outstanding performance, such as UniSwap, TraderJoe, etc. With the recovery of the Solana ecosystem from October to December 2023, Solana-related decentralized exchanges such as Raydium have seen traffic recovery.
DEX traffic entrance
In terms of search and conversion, French users are similar to German users, mainly entering decentralized exchanges through direct login, Google search, social media conversion and cryptocurrency information website conversion.
Netherlands and Switzerland
Summary of DEX competitive landscape
The traffic of Dutch and Swiss users on UniSwap far exceeds that of other decentralized exchanges, indicating that users prefer to trade assets on the Ethereum chain and EVM-compatible chains. The rest of the public chains are all top decentralized exchanges with outstanding performance, such as PancakeSwap. It is worth noting that aggregation decentralized exchanges 1inch, Woo, and Jupiter all appear among the decentralized exchanges commonly used by users in the Netherlands and Switzerland, indicating that users pay more attention to transaction convenience.
DEX traffic entrance
In terms of search and conversion, users in the Netherlands and Switzerland are similar to users in other Western European countries. They mainly enter decentralized exchanges through direct login, Google search, social media conversion and cryptocurrency information website conversion. Other search engines appeared DuckDuckGo and Yandex Search, the former is an anonymous search engine, the latter is the largest search engine in Russia.
belgium and austria
Summary of DEX competitive landscape
The traffic of users in Belgium and Austria on UniSwap far exceeds that of other decentralized exchanges, indicating that users prefer to trade assets on the Ethereum chain and EVM-compatible chains. The remaining public chains are all top decentralized exchanges with outstanding performance, such as Osmosis, PancakeSwap, etc. It is worth noting that Osmosis, a decentralized exchange under the Cosmos ecosystem, has attracted more attention from local users.
DEX traffic entrance
In terms of search and conversion, users in Belgium and Austria are similar to most Western European users. They mainly enter decentralized exchanges through direct login, Google search, social media conversion and cryptocurrency information website conversion. The blockchain-based search engine presearch also appears among the search engines used by Belgian users when searching for decentralized exchanges, indicating that the project has a good local user base.
Due to the small number of user samples in several countries such as Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, there may be large errors in the summary results, so no detailed summary will be made. Its users’ usage habits of DEX are similar to those of other surrounding Western European countries.
3.Wallet
(Note: Some well-known wallets, such as Binance wallet and its centralized exchange share the same APP and cannot withdraw traffic separately, so they are not shown in the above table)
In terms of wallet usage, Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, and Bitget Wallet are the Top 5 wallets in Western Europe.
As in most other areas, the top three wallets are Trust Wallet, MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet. As a wallet launched in 2017, Trust Wallet has a good first-mover advantage. Its design is simple and easy to use and adapts to the habits of European users. Similarly, MetaMask also has a good first-mover advantage. Most EVM-compatible public chain projects are generally Both will consider priority support, which makes these two wallets very popular in the European region.
The third-ranked Coinbase Wallet is backed by Coinbase. Since many users in Europe use the Coinbase exchange, the authority and security of Coinbase, as well as the interoperability of exchange assets and wallet assets, also make many users choose Coinbase. Wallet.
Due to the recent popularity of the Solana ecosystem, Phantom, as the most popular native wallet on the Solana network, has seen a significant increase in downloads, ranking fourth, and there are rumors in social media that Phantom has the possibility of issuing currency airdrops. Some users are due to airdrops. Expect to use Phantom when interacting with Solana ecosystem projects.
Bitget Wallet updates and iterates very quickly and currently supports more than 90 public chains. At the same time, the innovative liquidity aggregation algorithm in Swap brings users a smooth trading experience. It also supports on-chain changes, intelligent market recommendations and other functional assistance. User capture hot items. When it comes to NFTs, Bitget Wallet’s NFT marketplace is the first platform to support the use of any cryptocurrency to purchase NFTs. Insights into user needs and quick support have helped it rank fifth in downloads in Europe.
Summarize
Western European countries are economically developed, and Western Europeans generally have a high level of education and are willing to explore and accept new things, making Western Europe one of the regions with the highest cryptocurrency penetration in the world. This report mainly investigates the cryptocurrency market situation of eight Western European countries as defined by the United Nations from three major sections: "overall market situation", "characteristics of local cryptocurrency users", and "competitive landscape and advantages of each platform".
Judging from the overall market situation, the overall volume and acceptance of cryptocurrencies in Western Europe is in the second echelon of the world. The eight Western European countries as a whole show the characteristics of "large cryptocurrency volume, high DeFi activity, and slightly weak P2P transaction volume." The “daily active users” of centralized exchanges across Western Europe are approximately 1.2 million to 1.5 million, of which France and Germany are the two countries with the most active crypto activities in Europe.
From the perspective of regulatory and cultural impact, most of the countries surveyed belong to the European Union. The formulation of their encryption policies mainly refers to the EU's cryptocurrency policy, and makes relevant detailed adjustments based on the specific laws of each country. The anti-money laundering and KYC parts of encryption regulations are relatively complete. The core is to protect the interests of investors, maintain the stability of the financial system, and not curb technological innovation.
Western European users generally have a high level of education, pay attention to risks when investing in cryptocurrency, and are willing to participate in various forums and community AMAs. Specifically, the characteristics of cryptocurrency users in the eight Western European countries have the following characteristics:
Western European users use a combination of contracts and spot methods to invest in cryptocurrencies, mainly trading and holding mainstream assets;
Western European users in popular sectors and projects mainly have the characteristics of having a large number of participants in decentralized projects, being familiar with Dex tools and transactions, NFT, and Web3 platforms, and actively participating in the popular public chain Solana ecology;
The main battlefields of local communities in Western European countries are Twitter and Youtube. The languages used are mainly the official languages of the countries, but English content is also widely spread in Western European countries.
In terms of competitive landscape and platform advantages, global centralized exchanges provide more diverse and comprehensive services and still occupy the majority of the market share. The data of decentralized exchanges are not very different. Depending on market changes and ecological development, users mainly use top applications, such as Uniswap, Pancakeswap, 1inch, etc. In terms of wallets, Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, and Bitget Wallet are the Top 5 wallets in Western Europe.
Finally, after thorough research on the European market by Bitget Research Institute, looking forward to 2024, we predict that the Western European market may experience the following development changes for readers’ reference:
Germany and France still maintain their status as cryptocurrency centers in Western Europe;
As the cryptocurrency market warms up and the popularity of cryptocurrency among Western European users increases, the number of DAUs participating in cryptocurrency transactions in the Western European market will continue to rise from 700,000 in 2023 to about 1.2 million to 1.5 million in 2024. level;
Western European users continue to participate in on-chain interactions, and their enthusiasm for NFT, DEX, blockchain games and other projects is only increasing. There may be 1-2 on-chain application projects incubated by Western European teams, becoming the leading projects in their respective tracks.
Decentralized exchanges will carry more demand for on-chain transactions. Some new centralized exchanges will gain greater favor from Western European users with their better customer services and platform benefits, thereby gaining a larger market share;
The Solana ecosystem’s interaction continues to be popular, and some wallets that integrate multi-chain ecosystems such as Phantom and Bitget Wallet will benefit, and their market share in Western Europe will increase significantly.
