The UK has become the largest crypto economy in Europe with a volume of $252 billion

The annual volume of crypto transactions in the UK reached approximately $252.1 billion, which turned out to be the highest figure in Europe and the third in the world, according to a report by Chainalysis.

In the global ranking, the country was surpassed only by the United States and India.

The Central, Northern, and Western Europe (CNWE) region, which includes the United Kingdom, is generally the second-largest crypto economy in the world. Its share in the volume of transactions is 17.6% with a total value of about $1 trillion. North America is the leader.

Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Italy were also among the leading CNWE countries in terms of activity in digital assets. DeFi services became the most popular category of services for users — 54.8% of the total.

According to Jamie McNaught, founder and CEO of the Solidi bitcoin exchange, British consumers are usually looking for cryptocurrencies as an alternative to "low returns on savings and traditional investments." After the decline in the popularity of NFTs, they switched to Bitcoin (especially in anticipation of the halving in 2024) and Ethereum, significant bets are also being made on XRP, Cardano and Solana, the expert noted.

Chainalysis experts drew attention to the decline in the popularity of stablecoins in the country in June. They attributed this to the adoption of the Financial Services and Markets Act, which affected the regulation of the crypto industry.