The Bitcoin Market Potential Index

22 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2016

See all articles by Garrick Hileman

Garrick Hileman

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: August 3, 2014

Abstract

The Bitcoin Market Potential Index conceptualizes and ranks the potential utility of bitcoin across 178 countries to show where the cryptocurrency has the greatest relative potential for adoption. The index utilizes a data set with 40 variables from the following areas: technology penetration, international remittances, inflation, informal economy, financial repression, financial crises (historical), and bitcoin penetration. Standardized and re-scaled country level data both indicate that Argentina and Sub-Saharan Africa are the country and region, respectively, where bitcoin has the greatest potential for adoption. It is argued that regulation could have an important effect on bitcoin adoption but that it should be excluded as an index variable for now due to insufficient data and uncertainty over its short-term directional impact and longer-term consequences.

Keywords: bitcoin, blockchain, money, currency, cryptocurrency, alternative currency, technology penetration, international remittances, inflation, informal economy, financial repression, financial crises, ether, Ethereum, Ripple, XRP

JEL Classification: E26, E31, E40, E42, E49, E50, E51, E58, E59, F24, F38, G18, G28, J33, O17

Suggested Citation

Hileman, Garrick, The Bitcoin Market Potential Index (August 3, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2752757 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2752757

Garrick Hileman (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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