Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, met with particularly strong appeal in some Asian countries last year, including Thailand, China and Vietnam. According to data from Statista’s Digital Economy Compass 2022, Thailand leads the countries with the highest number of NFT users, with a total that reached almost 5.7 million in 2021. It is followed by Brazil (nearly 5 million paying active customers or accounts), and the United States (3.8 million). Taking into account the size of the population, Thailand stands out even more, with a penetration rate that currently stands at 8%. This is in stark contrast to Canada and Brazil, where the figure stands at 3.7% and 2.3% respectively.
According to Forbes, an NFT is defined as a “digital asset that represents real-world objects such as artwork, music, game elements, and videos. They buy and sell online, frequently with cryptocurrencies, and are usually encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.” In a way, they act as “title deeds” for digital works, which become secure and traceable thanks to blockchain technology. The enthusiasm for NFTs is due in particular to their uniqueness.
While this market is booming, however, financial experts warn against investing in NFTs, as the variation in their value is strongly linked to speculation and hype. As Chuin Ting Weber, CEO of MoneyOwl, explains to Yahoo News: “NFTs do not have an economic return based on the activity of companies or countries. The nature of the gains is speculative and volatile: you can win astronomically, but you can also lose everything.” For this reason, it suggests that users only place in NFTs what they are willing to lose.
Tristan Gaudiaut
Data Journalist
DESCRIPTION
This graph shows an estimate of the number of NFT users in the selected countries in 2021, in millions.
Source: https://fr.statista.com/infographie/27590/pays-avec-le-plus-utilisateurs-de-nft/