What was the most popular cryptocurrency of 2021 in the UK?

Cryptocurrency exploded globally in the year 2021 and the United Kingdom was not immune to the increase in popularity of the digital economy.

The bull run this year demonstrated its ever-increasing acceptance and the UK was a major investor in the industry.

If you look back to 2018, around 1.5m people in the UK owned some cryptocurrency, a figure that grew to about 9.8m people by February of 2021.

With Bitcoin being the first cryptocurrency created, the most famous, and most valuable, it might be a tad obvious that it was indeed the most popular crypto in the UK this year with an overwhelming 70% ownership, according to database company, Statista.

Insight provided by Statista showed that, while Bitcoin ruled the roost among crypto ownership, Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency in the world trailed Bitcoin with an ownership percentage of 37.3% in the UK.

The infamous meme coin Dogecoin ranks third (15.5%), with Litecoin just slightly behind in fourth (15%), as Bitcoin Cash (10.1%) rounds up the top five cryptocurrencies owned by the 1,589 respondents of the survey.

The more society began to accept cryptocurrency, the more value it could have and according to  CyberCrew, close to 500 businesses had begun to accept crypto as payment or possessed a cryptocurrency ATM.

Those businesses included consumer electronics (44) and IT services (39) as well as quick service and casual dining restaurants (29), cryptocurrency services and media (18) and, cafes and coffee shops (16).

The significant rise of the UK’s adoption of the digital economy was demonstrated by a report from blockchain data platform Chainalysis, which found that the UK was the leading European nation in crypto transactions with $170bn (£123bn) worth of deals.

With Bitcoin making up 27% of the UK’s transaction value, the nation led significantly ahead of the likes of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, respectively.