The cryptocurrency price tracker CoinGecko estimated that this year’s decline in the digital asset market had changed the trends in the industry. According to the company’s research, Nigeria has emerged as the most crypto-curious nation across the globe.

Other recent reports revealed that Nigerians’ interest in digital currencies is prompted by their limited access to financial services and the monetary crisis that reigns across the state.

Nigeria Occupied the First Spot

By observing several factors, such as Google searches that include the phrases “buy crypto” or “invest in crypto,” CoinGecko determined that Nigeria (with a score of 371 points) ranks as the most crypto-curious nation. The second position belongs to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while Singapore is third. Speaking on the results was CoinGecko’s Co-Founder – Bobby Ong:

“This study provides interesting insight into which countries remain most interested in cryptocurrency in spite of market pullbacks.”

He further outlined that residents of the countries at the top of the list are most inclined to “buy the dip” and have predominantly entered the digital asset universe for the long term.

In the past couple of months, Ethereum has gained momentum because of its expected transition from a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake. The interest in the network seems to be the biggest in Singapore, while Solana is the most popular among the citizens of Georgia.

Apart from showing huge curiosity toward the industry, a big chunk of Nigerians have already turned into HODLers. A KuCoin study disclosed that 35% of the country’s adults (or 33.4 million people) have owned or traded cryptocurrencies in the recent past. Moreover, 52% have allocated more than half of their total wealth into the asset class.

A key reason for delving into the sector could be the limited access to monetary services in Africa’s most-populated country, KuCoin stated. Despite being a financial hub in the Western part of the continent, vast rural areas in Nigeria are left without banking and fiat-based opportunities.

The economic issues of the country are another factor. The inflation rate keeps rising monthly and currently stands at over 18%. As such, it is no wonder that some locals decided to diversify their portfolios with cryptocurrencies.

What About Crypto-Ready Countries?

Despite its curiosity about the digital asset market, Nigeria did not rank among the top 10 most crypto-ready nations worldwide. Number one in that statistic is Hong Kong, with a score of 8.6 points out of 10. Second and third are respectively the United States of America and Switzerland.

According to the research, those three countries have the most blockchain startups, the largest number of crypto ATMs, and friendly digital asset legislation and taxation rules.

Touching upon Google trends, residents of Australia have typed “cryptocurrency” the most on the search engine, while those living in Ireland and the UK rounded up the top three.