Opinion by: Maksym Sakharov, group CEO at WeFi

The crypto industry has been focused on the same markets: the United States and the European Union. The conversation has mainly concerned regulatory clarity, speculative gains and institutional access, whether Silicon Valley’s venture capital firms or Wall Street’s exchange-traded fund issuers. 

Unfortunately, this fixation is blinding much of the industry to a more pressing reality, where the future of crypto adoption isn’t in New York, London or Brussels, but rather in Lagos, Buenos Aires and Manila.

Some, especially those who believe the legitimacy of crypto rests on institutional capital and regulatory acceptance in developed markets, may wave off the above statement. However, the numbers present a different picture, even if it is consistently overlooked. 

The most recent Chainalysis report on crypto adoption says that India is No. 1 in the world for the third year in a row when using digital assets. Nigeria, Vietnam and the Philippines are not far behind.

These markets are not driven by a desire to speculate on a new asset class. A fundamental need for financial survival and utility powers them. This is where real growth happens, the kind with the potential to reshape monetary systems.

Where crypto already solves problems

Consider Argentina, for example, where annual inflation has historically shattered triple digits. There, citizens have been converting their pesos into stablecoins not to trade but to preserve value. Furthermore, they are not buying Bitcoin to hodl; instead, they use the dollar-pegged digital assets to buy groceries and pay rent. 

Nigeria’s situation is almost the same, with citizens regularly using crypto for cross-border trade and remittances to help slash the exorbitant fees levied by traditional money transfer services. Additionally, per the Chainalysis report, Sub-Saharan Africa had the fastest growth in crypto users of any region globally, with nearly 20% more users each year.

These examples demonstrate that crypto is already addressing everyday problems in underserved economies. For many, digital assets are not about hedging portfolios; they’re about survival.

The US and EU are looking the wrong way

Compare the above with the US and EU, where Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds, institutional custody and regulatory turf wars usually dominate discussions about digital assets. 

This is a misreading of the global landscape. These issues may matter for major financial markets, but they do little for the unbanked in one part of the world or the remittance sender and gig worker in another. 

When industry leaders claim “mainstream adoption” will be achieved through things like ETFs, they overlook that adoption has already arrived, just not where Wall Street is looking.

The next billion users will not care about a spot Ethereum ETF but rather about basic everyday tools like those that can allow them to send money home to their family without losing a week’s wages to intermediary fees.

Related: Trash collectors in Africa earn crypto to support families with ReFi

This shift could have monumental market implications. Projects and exchanges that are only built with Western markets in mind may be inadvertently shutting themselves off from one of the fastest-growing user bases in the world.

While these projects and exchanges are fighting for a piece of the already crowded and well-established market, they ignore the areas that don’t get enough attention. This is where real growth and rapid adoption will happen in the next few years.

The real story of mainstream adoption

Of course, the above submission doesn’t imply that developed markets will no longer matter. If anything, institutional capital and regulated access will still be critical parts of the crypto economy. They won’t, however, be the primary part of the adoption story. 

The heart of it is a taxi driver in Lagos who uses stablecoins to avoid naira depreciation, or a small shop owner in Buenos Aires who protects himself from triple-digit inflation. Or a worker who sends money home from abroad without paying 7% fees to legacy intermediaries.

According to the World Bank, in 2024, remittances alone were worth more than $685 billion. 

If transaction costs decreased by just 1%, there would be billions more in the hands of people who need it the most. And this can be possible with crypto, which is cheaper and faster. That’s why over a million merchants in places like the Philippines now accept digital currencies for payments through mobile wallet-linked platforms.

This population should not be viewed as just a new cohort of retail traders. They are the core market. Even regulators in developing countries are trying to move quickly. Nigeria’s central bank recently set up a regulatory sandbox and issued several new virtual asset licenses.

This grassroots activity has much greater potential to reshape finance than the vaunted ETF launches. Still, the industry treats these markets as secondary, even though they are the main places where crypto’s original goal of financial inclusion is being tested.

Stop chasing the wrong market

The best way forward would be for the industry to reorient its priorities. Instead of tailoring every product for a Wall Street investor, it must build a strong, simple and mobile-first infrastructure for the rest of the world. This would mean prioritizing the development of low-cost remittance corridors, seamless fiat on-ramps and educational resources for populations that view crypto as a lifeline rather than a lottery ticket.

The future of global finance should be written not by the titans of traditional finance, but by the everyday user in emerging economies who has discovered a tool for genuine economic empowerment. Right now, the question is not whether mainstream adoption of digital assets will happen, but who among the players will be smart enough to identify where that mainstream truly resides. 

The real frontier was never on Wall Street. It is, and always has been, everywhere else. Ignoring this reality wouldn’t just be shortsighted; it would be reckless. If the crypto industry claims to be building global financial infrastructure, it cannot design it solely for the wealthiest markets. 

Platforms that serve real-world needs will define the future in countries with the weakest financial systems. That is where crypto already works.

Opinion by: Maksym Sakharov, group CEO at WeFi.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Coinpectra.