Who’s Really Winning Onchain – Spoiler: It’s Not Wall Street

Wall Street:- Wall Street and developed markets such as the United States and the U.K. continue to shape the public narrative around crypto. With institutional players like JP Morgan, BlackRock, NYSE, moving deeper and engaging with crypto players at larger scale with the clearer regulatory roadmaps, these jurisdictions appear to lead the industry’s growth and maturation. These hubs still dominate headline investment flows and institutional product development – but they don’t tell the whole story.

A report titled ‘State of Crypto 2025′ released on Wednesday by leading VC firm – A16z’s crypto arm – reveals numbers that flips that script. The research shows that the fastest growth in mobile-wallet usage – a proxy for real on-chain activity – is occurring in emerging markets of developed nations. Over 50% of total 716 million global crypto users come from these regions.

Developing Countries Lead onchain Crypto Activity

The report reveals that Peru, Indonesia, and Pakistan are leading the way in terms of Mobile wallet usage – driving over 50% of crypto wallet activity. This is followed by the 25 to 50% onchain activity in countries such as India, Nigeria, Columbia, Argentina.

Mobile wallet usage refers to how people use cryptocurrency wallets on mobile devices (phones/tablets). Mobile wallets are the primary interface for on-chain activity that includes transfers, payments, swaps, and interactions with dApps. More MAU translates to more people actually transacting on chain.

Ethereum Ecosystem Head James said in a X post, these numbers “suggest these populations are using crypto for real transactions rather than just trading.”

Also Read: How big is the Indian Market

What’s Driving More Than 50% Users

The rise can partially be also accounted to the surge in stablecoin usage for cross-border value transfer  in these regions. Stablecoins, according to the a16z report, are now rivalling traditional payment giants.

With over $300 billion in circulating supply as of writing, stablecoins have done $9 trillion in the last 12 months, up 87% from a year ago. This is more than five times PayPal’s throughput, and more than half of Visa’s.

The numbers perhaps make sense for why exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance are visibly investing resources and localised product/marketing into India and other high-adoption emerging markets. Coinbase’s October 2025 investment in CoinDCX and repeated India-focused product materials from Binance show a sustained push into India and surrounding regions.

The rise comes even as the regulatory scenario remains challenging in India, Argentia even though Pakistan with former Binance CEO CZ is moving towards pro-crypto acts.

On the Indian scenario, CEO Sumit Gupta from CoinDCX said in a Linkedin post, “India is already known to be Number 1 in grassroots adoption of crypto, according to Chainalysis and TRM Labs. But a16z makes an interesting observation: Indians don’t have as much interest in altcoins.  Fostering a broader understanding of altcoins is also essential. While India’s adoption is wide, it may currently lack depth”

Majority of these users are using Hyperliquid and Solana as their preferred blockchain with both accounting for 53% of revenue generating economic activity.

Also Read: Bybit Supported New memecoin Launchpad Launches

Where Do Developed Economies Stand

Contrastingly, the report reveals that while real world engagement or adoption with crypto is high in developing countries, in developed countries, users continues to remain skewed towards crypto trading and speculation.

There’s also an opportunity for crypto businesses to turn over all the 716 million users who own crypto into active crypto users – which currently stand at only 40-70 millions.

Also Read: After Solana, Ethereum Phone Launches

Other Facts Revealed by the Report

Besides highlighting the regional opportunities globally, the a16z report further reveals some key insights for businesses:

1. DATs, combined with exchange-traded products, now hold around 10% of both Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s token supplies.

2. Crypto trading is now moving to DEXs with Perps such as Hyperliquid coming into central focus and rivaling CEXs.

3. Even though the memecoin activity has cooled down in recent months, over 13 million memecoins were launched in the last year.

4. NFT market volume is nowhere near its peak in 2022, but the number of monthly active buyers has been growing.

5. Blockchains now process 3,400 transactions per second, on par with completed trades on the Nasdaq or Stripe’s global throughput on Black Friday.

6. Crypto can help solve some of AI’s most pressing challenges such as IP licensing and trust issues.