Chainalysis, $162.7 billion in crypto earnings in 2021

Blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis has revealed that 2021 was a top year for cryptocurrencies, with total earnings of $162.7 billion, compared to $32.5 billion in 2020. 

Not only that, the top cryptocurrency seems to be Ethereum which surpassed Bitcoin in total gains made globally, during the past year. 

Chainalysis and skyrocketing crypto earnings in 2021

Last week, Chainalysis released its study on the 2021 earnings of cryptocurrencies, with surprising results of industry growth. 

2021 was another strong year for #crypto prices.💸 Who benefited most? Let’s find out. Our latest blog breaks down estimated realized crypto gains by country. https://t.co/m5tZUR3dFC
<<🧵A THREAD>>

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) April 20, 2022

“2021 was another strong year for #crypto prices. Who benefited most? Let’s find out. Our latest blog breaks down estimated realized crypto gains by country”.

Globally, the increase in crypto earnings in 2021 rose to $162.7 billion, compared to “only” $32.5 billion in 2020. 

To get more geographically specific data, given the decentralized nature of crypto, Chainalysis explained its method for carrying out its crypto earnings estimates on a country-by-country basis. Essentially, the blockchain analytics company, combines its transaction data and web traffic data. 

In 2021, the US led by a wide margin of $47 billion in gains made from cryptocurrencies, followed by the UK, Germany, Japan and China. 

The US earned the most in crypto in 2021

The US takes the lead in crypto earnings for 2021, with 476% growth over the previous year. 

Other countries also reflect these growth rates in earnings, such as the UK with a 431% increase and Germany with 423%. 

These are impressive growth rates when considering that in China the increase in crypto earnings was only 194%, for a total of $5.1 billion. 

Other analyses compare the country’s GDP position with its own crypto earnings. For example, Turkey ranks 11th in GDP with $2.7 trillion, but sixth in gains made in cryptocurrency with $4.6 billion.

Ethereum is the highest-earning crypto

Chainalysis then examined which was the asset with the biggest earnings trend for 2021, estimating Ethereum at the top of the list. 

Specifically, while Bitcoin would have totalled $74.7 billion in global earnings, Ethereum would have reached $76.3 billion. 

Last week, it seems that other studies on Google Trends revealed that Ethereum is also the most searched crypto in the UK, against Dogecoin which is the most trending search query in the US. 

At the time of writing, ETH is worth $3000, recording a 5% price pump in the last 24 hours.