A few years ago, cryptocurrency was fighting to gain any sort of mainstream acceptance and adoption. Those familiar with the industry will remember that major business leaders denounced it as a scam, institutions wouldn’t embrace it in any way, and it seemed like crypto would always be an underground asset.
However, the years have shown that the asset class indeed has staying power, and we’ve seen more adoption than ever before. But what exactly does this mean for the world of politics, especially as different countries have different approaches to crypto?
How Crypto Is Gaining Adoption
First, it is worth looking at the different ways that cryptocurrency has found itself on the world stage. On an individual level, there are more crypto users now than ever before. This is reflected in the growing revenue of major exchanges, as well as the growing emphasis on crypto-related services. Crypto wallets, for example, find themselves more in demand than ever before and this cuts across token preference. An Ethereum token wallet is as likely to be downloaded and used as any other type, and this shows that more individuals need cryptocurrency than ever before.
This is partially because there are more use cases for the asset class. Retailers from Microsoft to Starbucks are accepting cryptocurrency for their various goods and services, and this means that there are more avenues for demand generation.
On an institutional level, crypto assets seem to have proven themselves as viable investment vehicles. Some of the most notable wins include the approval of spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum last year, as well as the former reaching an all-time price high of over $120,000. All these, however, would not be possible without some level of political support, which cryptocurrency has certainly secured.
Besides organizations like the Securities and Exchange Commission finally green-lighting a crypto ETF, there’s been more public support from various governmental bodies. Several states in the US now include cryptocurrency in pension funds, and current US President Donald Trump has been very vocal about his support of the industry. All these mean that both on an institutional and individual level, cryptocurrency is evolving and becoming more visible.
The Differing Approaches Around The World
But while cryptocurrency is certainly bigger in 2025 than it was in 2015, not every country has embraced it evenly. For example, while the US has seen an uptick in crypto use and public support, it remains banned in countries like China. At the same time, the US has been very reluctant to proceed with the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a digital dollar. It was stalled for years, and President Donald Trump has reiterated that he will not pursue one. China, on the other hand, has launched its own Central Bank Digital Currency, as have countries like the British Virgin Islands.
Some countries have been notably stricter on cryptocurrency than others. Places like Malta have attracted a significant number of crypto businesses thanks to favorable tax rates, grants, and so on. Other countries have been notably less supportive of the industry, even without outright hostility.
What All Of This Means
Global crypto adoption will likely have several long-term political implications, both positive and negative. On the one hand, it will create greater financial inclusion. One of cryptocurrency’s notable features is that it allows the previously unbanked individuals, such as homeless people, to access financial services, especially through things like decentralized finance (DeFi).
It also means more participation in wealth generation compared to the traditional financial landscape. There have been countless stories of people trading or creating tokens from the comfort of their own home and accessing the sort of gains they would be shut out from in places like Wall Street.
At the same time, cryptocurrency runs the risk of being used for political division. A clear-cut case is the Lazarus group, a hacker group that is believed to be sponsored by the North Korean government. It’s been speculated that the Lazarus group steals cryptocurrencies from major exchanges to fund the country’s nuclear weapons program in the face of U.S. sanctions. It’s been suggested that countries like Russia and China could lean on cryptocurrency as a way to evade sanctions, especially with escalating tensions in both regions.
But even with all of these complications, there is a noted interest for many countries to secure themselves as major crypto hubs. The crypto industry is worth billions of dollars, and this figure is only going to rise in the next few years. As such, countries becoming major centers for crypto business means that they will have a financial edge. The United Kingdom has publicly stated its desire to become a crypto hub, and several countries are implementing laws to capture businesses from others.
Having control of cryptocurrency also means that if a sanctions-evading trend breaks out using digital assets, no one will be left in the dark. One of the criticisms Trump has gotten regarding his crypto stance is due to the digital dollar. As some critics see it, the US will fall behind if it doesn’t begin to develop its own CBDC.
Just like with any other burgeoning industry, expanded crypto adoption will mean financial benefits for the countries that establish themselves first, though not without their own complications.
Conclusion
The story of cryptocurrency has been a deeply complex one that is far from over. As it becomes a more prominent player on the world stage, it’s clear that the countries that are able to capture the market will benefit financially and possibly gain an edge over others. But even with this, world powers have to grapple with the complex use of a decentralized technology that no single entity can have complete control of. It will be interesting to observe in the next few years which countries do come out on top and how other world powers will respond to this.
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