North America has firmly established itself as a dominant force in the global cryptocurrency landscape, driven largely by the United States’ rising role as a digital asset innovation and regulation hub.
According to the Chainalysis 2025 Adoption Index, the U.S. ranked second, accounting for 26% of all cryptocurrency transaction activity during the period studied.
Between July 2024 and June 2025, the North American region received a staggering $2.3 trillion in crypto transaction value, peaking in December 2024 when an estimated $244 billion flowed in during a single month. This December surge was marked by unprecedented stablecoin activity, setting a record for the highest monthly stablecoin transfers ever recorded.
Analysts attribute this spike partly to the election of President Donald Trump in November 2024, which fueled bullish market sentiment and optimism around clearer, more crypto-friendly regulatory policies. Monetary easing in Q4 2024 and increased institutional trading activity including ETF-driven flows and portfolio rebalancing also played key roles.
Although activity moderated slightly in 2025, transaction levels remained significantly higher than in the previous year, signaling sustained interest in digital assets. North America exhibited greater volatility than other regions, largely due to its heavy concentration of institutional players and active trading strategies.
Between September 2024 and June 2025, monthly transaction growth rates swung wildly, from a sharp 35% month-on-month decline in September to an 84% surge in November, demonstrating how sensitive the region is to short-term catalysts such as macroeconomic signals and shifts in investor sentiment.
By contrast, other regions displayed more stable adoption trends, reflecting differing market structures with North America leaning heavily on institutional and investment-driven activity, while other regions focus more on utility-driven and remittance-based usage.
Retail Participation Remains Strong
Despite the institutional dominance, retail investors continue to play a major role. Data from centralized exchanges between June 2024 and July 2025 revealed that everyday users purchased $2.7 trillion worth of Bitcoin using U.S. dollars, followed by $1.5 trillion in Ethereum (ETH) and $454 billion in Tether (USDT).
Remarkably, Bitcoin’s share of fiat-based trading has held steady at around 42% over the past four years, underscoring its enduring role as the leading digital asset for retail investors.
Regulatory Shifts Boost Institutional Growth
The year 2025 has seen sweeping regulatory reforms in the U.S., creating a more favorable environment for institutional crypto adoption. Agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have reversed restrictive policies and introduced clearer guidelines that encourage broader participation by traditional financial institutions.
The President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets further bolstered these efforts by issuing recommendations aimed at positioning the U.S. as the “crypto capital of the world.” This shift marks a departure from the SEC’s previous “regulation by enforcement” strategy, which had long been a source of uncertainty for market participants.
As a result, North America now leads the world in high-value transactions, with 45% of all crypto transaction value involving transfers over $10 million. Europe trails behind at 34%, highlighting the U.S.’s outsized influence in global institutional adoption.
Two segments have emerged as key drivers of growth: tokenized real-world assets and spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The market for tokenized money market funds, particularly those holding U.S. Treasuries, has expanded dramatically. Assets under management (AUM) for these funds nearly quadrupled, rising from $2 billion in August 2024 to over $7 billion by August 2025.
These tokenized products are attractive for both crypto-native investors and institutions seeking regulated, yield-bearing assets that can also be deployed in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols or fintech platforms.
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin ETF market has experienced explosive growth. As of mid-July 2025, global Bitcoin ETF AUM reached approximately $179.5 billion, with U.S.-listed ETFs accounting for over $120 billion of this total. This rapid growth since their approval in early 2024 highlights the deepening integration of crypto into traditional financial systems.
These developments signal that cryptocurrencies are increasingly recognized as mainstream investible asset classes.
Notably, the U.S. dollar’s global dominance is mirrored in the explosive growth of stablecoins, which now facilitate trillions in cross-border transfers every month. In 2025, stablecoin transfer volumes regularly exceeded $2 trillion per month, with peaks approaching $3 trillion.
From January to July 2025, the total adjusted stablecoin transaction value reached nearly $16 trillion, almost triple the levels recorded during the same period in 2024. This underscores how dollar-backed digital assets have become deeply embedded in global finance, serving not only as a settlement mechanism for crypto trades but also as a lifeline for populations underserved by traditional banking systems.
By enabling efficient, stable, and borderless transactions, stablecoins are reinforcing the U.S. dollar’s influence on a global scale extending America’s monetary reach far beyond its domestic borders.
