U.S. drives institutional crypto while Asia tops trading activity, CoinDesk Research finds

The global crypto market is no longer evolving as a single, unified system. Instead, it is splitting into distinct layers, with Asia leading in everyday usage, the United States consolidating its role as the institutional and regulatory center, and Latin America showing how utility-driven adoption can scale in real-world economies.

A new Global Digital Asset Adoption Index from CoinDesk Research, released ahead of Consensus Miami, highlights Asia’s dominance across nearly every major activity metric. The region ranks first in exchange trading volumes, stablecoin transaction flows, and crypto ownership rates, reinforcing how much of the industry’s operational activity now sits outside North America.

At the same time, the U.S. continues to command the institutional side of the market. According to the report, the country leads in exchange-traded products, custody infrastructure, and regulatory clarity, positioning it as the primary venue for compliant capital formation and large-scale institutional participation.

CoinDesk Research argues that this divergence does not reflect a decline in U.S. influence, but rather a structural shift in how crypto markets function. Liquidity, compliance, and user activity are increasingly decoupled, no longer concentrated in a single jurisdiction. Asia’s strength lies in deep retail participation and embedded financial integration, while North America’s advantage comes from product depth, licensing frameworks, and access to traditional financial markets.

Stablecoins sit at the center of this global split. In developed markets, they remain closely tied to trading activity and collateral use. In emerging economies, however, stablecoins are increasingly being used for remittances, cross-border commerce, and inflation hedging. The index shows that this utility-led demand continues to drive transaction growth even when price momentum weakens.

Latin America illustrates a third model. Across several economies, dollar-pegged stablecoins function less as speculative instruments and more as financial infrastructure, supporting remittances, cross-border trade, and protection against currency volatility. This usage has helped sustain steady transaction volumes even during broader market downturns.

The result is a multipolar digital asset landscape, where leadership is defined less by geography and more by which layer of the crypto stack is in focus—ranging from retail usage and payments to regulation, custody, and institutional capital.

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