Interview with Ben Caselin, Head of Research and Strategy at AAX on Bitcoin in Emerging Markets Survey

AAX in association with Forrester Research recently published the findings of a survey conducted in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia on Bitcoin adoption. We asked Ben Caselin, the Head of Research and Strategy at AAX few questions regarding the survey outcome and key findings. Q: Please throw some light on the recent study on Bitcoin Adoption conducted by AAX A: Emerging markets such as Africa, Latin America and the Middle East have shown increased potential and interest to AAX as these regions are the primary locations where we’re seeing the adoption of Bitcoin and other digital assets. That’s different from other regions like Europe and North America, where adoption is primarily driven by speculation. The study shows that emerging markets are seeing consumers and businesses alike adopt crypto for specific reasons, such as payments and money management. The primary reasons for commissioning this study were to shed more light on these questions of crypto adoption, and also to send a message to the wider industry that in order to move forward and progress, there needs to be a shift of focus beyond simply trading and profiteering. We need to focus on crypto’s impact and utility as a viable financial technology in the real world, and developing economies are the primary locations where this is happening. Q: What are the different parameters considered during the study? A: Forrester has stringent guideline...