A 79-country study measures where crypto is used out of need, not enthusiasm

2026-07-14 02:34:55 Business

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Most national crypto rankings reward the countries with the friendliest rules for exchanges and licence holders. A newly published research dataset asks a harder question: in how many places does an ordinary resident reach for crypto because the local banking system leaves them short? Answered that way, the leaderboard turns over. Argentina finishes first, and the wealthy economies that usually top these lists sink toward the bottom.

The Crypto Livability Index, compiled by Genghis Research, scores 79 countries across 22 sub-pillars covering market access, regulation, real-world spendability, digital infrastructure and community activity. Its 1,738 underlying scores describe conditions on 31 December 2025 and were checked against the documentary record. The dataset is released under a CC BY 4.0 licence and carries its own DOI, so any figure can be traced back to a stated input.

Two tables, two different winners

The index publishes two rankings side by side rather than one. A raw capability score asks which environment is best built for crypto, and there Switzerland leads at 75 out of 84, ahead of the usual advanced economies. The official Livability Ranking then reweights that capability by how far a population depends on alternatives to its own banking system. On the second table Switzerland drops to 29th while Argentina climbs to first at 0.910.

The full Livability top ten runs Argentina, El Salvador, Ukraine, Nigeria, Turkey, Venezuela, the Philippines, Brazil, Lebanon and Cuba. Five of those ten rose more than thirty places once need entered the calculation. The rich economies travelled the other way, with Canada down 34 places, Australia 31 and the United States 29.

What separates use from aspiration

Remittance receipt is the sharpest divider in the data. In Argentina, Iran and Russia, crypto already carries more than 15% of inbound remittances, while every wealthy economy in the index scores zero on the same measure. El Salvador holds second place on World Bank arithmetic rather than its Bitcoin headline, with remittances near 24% of GDP against a 57% unbanked population.

Three findings stand out for anyone tracking where crypto payments take root. A dollar stablecoin can be acquired in all 79 jurisdictions, with no national ban keeping it out. The anonymous on-ramp has closed everywhere, because no resident can legally buy crypto with local currency and skip an identity check. Need alone does not win the table either: Cuba records the highest necessity score in the index yet ranks tenth, held back by a weak operating environment.

Spending is where the data bites hardest. All 79 countries clear at least ten gift-card brands, yet 41 of them cannot pay a single household utility bill in crypto. The ladder of everyday expenses does not taper, it stops at a wall.

The complete methodology, both tables and all 79 country profiles are documented in the Crypto Livability Index report: https://www.genghis.pro/crypto-livability-index

Analysts and media may cite the index with attribution to Genghis Research.