Investors from the US, Vietnam, Thailand, China and the UK dominate the decentralized finance market. The more familiar investors are with trading and cryptocurrencies, the more often they turn to DeFi.

In a new report, analysts from Chainalysis assessed the presence of investors from 154 countries in the decentralized finance market. They ranked the world's countries for DeFi adoption based on three metrics: on-chain DeFi value received, on-chain retail DeFi value received, and on-chain number of DeFi deposits. The first two indicators also take into account purchasing power parity per capita.

According to Chainalysis, the top five countries in terms of DeFi adoption are the United States, Vietnam, Thailand, China, and the United Kingdom. According to analysts, the leaders are those countries where there are large institutional and professional investment markets. Chainalysis explains that the adoption of DeFi “has primarily been powered by experienced cryptocurrency traders and investors looking for new sources of alpha in innovative new platforms, even when we weigh our index to favor grassroots adoption,” the report said. Alpha refers to a return on investment beyond a benchmark.

At the same time, Chainalysis notes that the spread of DeFi is still at an early stage of development compared to the rest crypto industry. However, while the adoption of DeFi increased over the past 18 months in developed and emerging markets, the bulk of this growth came from regions with higher incomes and more professional investors. In order to accelerate the adoption of DeFi, the report says, it needs to attract small retail investors.