Interest in blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies in Latvia and Estonia has experienced a rapid rise in the last couple of years, and the number of users of cryptocurrencies has also increased in both Baltic countries, the results of the survey are described by the representatives of the cryptocurrency exchange “Binance”.
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“Binance” representative in Latvia, Polina Brotje, says that both Latvian and Estonian residents of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies mostly started using in the last two years.
38% of respondents in Latvia and 34% of respondents in Estonia have started dealing with cryptocurrencies in the last year. On the other hand, 45% in Latvia and 47% in Estonia have been interested in cryptocurrencies for one to two years. Only 10% in Latvia and 6% in Estonia have been interested in cryptocurrencies for more than five years. 7% of respondents in Latvia and 13% in Estonia have been dealing with cryptocurrencies for three to five years.
It should be mentioned that the survey was relatively small. As revealed by the company, a total of 285 respondents participated, including 159 from Estonia and 126 from Latvia.
The most popular cryptocurrency purchase and trading platform in both Latvia and Estonia is the “Binance” cryptocurrency exchange, according to a survey conducted by the company itself.
Brotje points out that users of cryptocurrencies in both Estonia and Latvia mainly manage their digital assets with the help of a smartphone. Almost half of cryptocurrency users in Latvia (47%) and more than half in Estonia (56%) use smartphone applications to work with cryptocurrencies. 25% in Estonia and 27% in Latvia work with cryptocurrencies using computers, while 19% in Estonia and 26% in Latvia use both smartphones and computers equally actively.
The survey shows that both Latvian and Estonian cryptocurrency users actively use fully independent and decentralized financial solutions in addition to centralized financial platforms. In the question about the most popular decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, the answers of Latvian and Estonian respondents differed slightly. In Latvia, the smart blockchain Ethereum services are the most popular, used by 46%. The second most popular is BNB Chain (38%), while Polygon is in third place (8%). In Estonia, however, BNB Chain is the most popular (40%), followed by Ethereum (37%) and Polygon (12%).
Cryptocurrency users in Latvia and Estonia differ slightly in the use of stable cryptocurrencies. Among Latvian respondents, the most popular stable cryptocurrency is BUSD (41%), followed by Tether (USDT) with 37% and USDC with 18%. In Estonia, however, the most popular stable cryptocurrency is USDT (57%), followed by BUSD (33%) and USDC (9%). Stable cryptocurrencies are designed to facilitate mutual payments. Due to their peg to other currencies or other financial instruments, they are not subject to the high price fluctuations that other cryptocurrencies regularly experience.
Small differences can be observed among Latvian and Estonian crypto users regarding the use of payment cards. Crypto users in Latvia are a little more active in the field of using crypto payment cards – only 43% of users in Latvia do not have their own crypto payment cards, while in Estonia 47% have not ordered cards. The most popular crypto payment cards in both Latvia and Estonia are cards issued by the crypto exchange “Binance”. In both Latvia and Estonia, 45% of respondents use them.
“Binance” conducted an online survey of crypto users in various Latvian and Estonian crypto community thematic groups at the end of 2022.