Brazil ranked 1st in Chainalysis’ 2026 global crypto adoption ranking. The country’s crypto economy reached $252.5 billion. Meanwhile, the global market saw a sharp decline in prices, with total cryptocurrency market capitalization falling about 50%, while on-chain activity declined just 1.6%.
Analytics platform Chainalysis published its 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index, which provides an overview of the crypto economy and ranks the world’s largest and emerging cryptocurrency markets. The leading countries ranked as follows:
- Brazil.
- The U.S.
- Nigeria.
- Japan.
- South Korea.
- India.
- Ukraine.
- Thailand.
- South Africa.
- Canada.
Brazil emerged as the global leader based on 4 metrics Chainalysis uses in its updated methodology for measuring digital asset adoption. The country didn’t rank 1st in any individual category, but consistently strong results across all metrics gave it the highest overall score.
Brazil performed strongly across all key metrics:
- 2nd in cross-border cryptocurrency flows;
- 3rd in inflows to cryptocurrency services;
- 3rd in domestic peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers;
- 4th in the value of on-chain assets.
The study covers the period from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, and includes 117 countries for which Chainalysis has sufficient data. The overall score is calculated using 4 normalized components, with rankings adjusted for the population’s purchasing power.
Crypto Market Lost Half Its Value, While On-Chain Activity Fell Just 1.6%
One of Chainalysis’ key findings was the resilience of real-world digital asset use during the market downturn. The total value of cryptocurrencies fell about $2.1 trillion, or around 50%. At the same time, on-chain activity measured by Chainalysis declined from $9.5 trillion to $9.4 trillion, a drop of just 1.6%. By comparison, during the 2023 downturn, the figure fell 23%, from $5.2 trillion to $4 trillion.
Cryptocurrency activity varied significantly across regions:
- Sub-Saharan Africa: up 13.4%;
- Latin America: up 9.8%;
- Western Europe: up 1.2%;
- Middle East and North Africa: down 1.4%;
- North America: down 1.9%;
- East Asia: down 4%;
- Central and Southern Asia and Oceania: down 6.8%;
- Eastern Europe: down 7.9%.
Retail Crypto Transfers Surged
Despite falling digital asset prices, users continued to make small, everyday transactions, and this segment recorded the strongest growth. According to Chainalysis:
- transfers of up to $100 rose 78.4% to a total of $28.3 billion;
- transactions between $100 and $1,000 increased 58.3% to $244.8 billion;
- transfers between $1,000 and $10,000 rose 24.4% to $715.5 billion;
- transactions between $10,000 and $1 million increased 1.2% to $2.8 trillion;
- transfers of $1 million or more fell 7.2% to about $5.6 trillion.
Retail-scale transactions therefore accounted for $273 billion of nearly $10 trillion in total on-chain activity. While their share remained relatively small, this segment recorded the fastest growth during the bear market.
Cross-Border Stablecoin Transfers Exceeded $220 Billion
Another notable trend was the growth of international stablecoin payments. By Chainalysis’ conservative estimate, monthly volume more than doubled from $11 billion in January 2025 to $24 billion in June 2026. Over the full study period, the volume of these transactions rose 77.5%, from $124.2 billion to $220.3 billion. The average payment was around $3,000.
The $220.3 billion figure is a lower-bound estimate because the methodology includes only transactions for which analysts can identify both the sender’s and recipient’s countries. The study’s authors therefore estimate that actual international stablecoin transaction volume could be significantly higher.
Direct digital asset transfers between personal wallets within individual countries also surged. Their volume increased 302.9%, from $56.8 billion to $228.7 billion. Their share of total on-chain activity rose from 0.6% to 2.5%. Meanwhile, inflows to exchanges, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and other cryptocurrency services fell 4.3%, from $9.3 trillion to $8.9 trillion.
Stablecoins Proved More Resilient Than Other Digital Assets
Amid the market downturn, the total value of crypto assets held in wallets and services fell from a peak of $860 billion in September 2025 to $440 billion in June 2026. Stablecoin balances, however, remained within a range of about $98 billion to $100 billion, while the value of other digital assets held at cryptocurrency addresses fell 55.6%. As a result, stablecoins’ share of total cryptocurrency balances increased significantly.
Chainalysis attributes the crypto economy’s relative resilience to the expanding use cases for digital assets. Cryptocurrencies are used for investment and trading, while stablecoins are also used for international payments, remittances, and savings. Direct transfers between users continued to grow even as market prices declined. Against this backdrop, Brazil overtook more mature markets and topped the 2026 global crypto adoption index.
It’s worth noting that in 2025, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) introduced a comprehensive regulatory framework for the country’s digital asset market, while Brazil’s cryptocurrency market nearly doubled in size over the year.
