Title: Adoption of cryptocurrency: an international perspective

Authors: Dhanraj Sharma; Ruchita Verma; Shiney Sam

Addresses: Department of Financial Administration, Central University of Punjab, Bhatinda, 151001, India ' Department of Commerce, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, 305817, India ' Department of Commerce, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, 305817, India

Abstract: Financial innovations are taking place around the world in the form of widespread storms and one of such major innovations is cryptocurrency, introduced in 2008. It has the properties of both a currency (medium of exchange) and an asset (stored value). Hence it can be used as a payment method as well as portfolio investment option. Seeking the importance of cryptocurrency, the present study aims to explore its adoption worldwide. Based upon the use of secondary data, Google Trend time series, Google Trend country interest points, Bitcoin nodes network and software download trend of the countries are taken as proxies for analysing the awareness and adoption of cryptocurrency around the world. The result of the study provides that the cryptocurrency market is highly searched and adopted in developed countries than in developing countries. Some countries have restricted or put an implicit restriction on the use of cryptocurrency, but on the other hand, many tech-savvy countries such as the USA, Canada, Ukraine, and the European Union have welcomed this new technology with open arms.

Keywords: cryptocurrency; adoption rate; Google Trend; time series.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTTC.2021.118863

International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, 2021 Vol.18 No.3, pp.247 - 260

Received: 19 Jul 2019
Accepted: 23 Feb 2020
Published online: 09 Nov 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article