Recently, the popularity of NFTs has exploded with exchange sites like OpenSea featuring record numbers of NFT listings and sales. While the world of NFTs is still in its infancy, many have been quick to realise the potential of this new digital asset class and the multitude of ways they can be used.
However, despite some very loud enthusiasm from groups of tech and art enthusiasts, NFTs are still met with confusion by a considerable number of people. This hesitancy is only natural, as it is difficult to become excited by something if you’re not entirely sure what it is. Thankfully, there are plenty of helpful NFT guides to be found online that can quickly get you up to speed with non-fungible tokens.
This division between NFT enthusiasts and those who are yet to get to grips with this new digital territory is not specific to any one country, age group or demographic. There are NFT fans all over the world who are able to join burgeoning NFT communities because of their digital and decentralised nature.
Yet, this did leave us wondering which parts of the world are the most interested in NFTs, as well as which countries are at the forefront of developing new technologies and applications to enhance NFTs and the way we can use them.
Using Google search data, we were able to identify which countries make the most NFT-related searches. We looked at a range of common NFT search queries and found their total volumes over the last year for 50 different countries in order to reveal the place where people are the most interested in non-fungible tokens.
NFT searches per 100,000 people
Taiwan is the country where people are the most interested in NFTs judging by their search history, with 9,629 NFT-related searches per 100,000 people over the past year. This east Asian island nation is known for being a tech hub which, combined with the Taiwanese reputation for being open minded and forward-thinking, makes it the ideal place for new technologies such as blockchain and NFTs to thrive.
NFT searches per 100,000 people
The country that has the second biggest interest in NFTs is Australia, where there were 8,198 NFT-related searches for every 100,000 people. This interest in NFTs and willingness to accept them as a new part of the digital ecosystem is a testament to Australians’ adaptability and openness to new ideas.
NFT searches per 100,000 people
Canada claims third place with Canadians’ interest in NFTs leading to 8,127 searches per 100,000 people. Canada has a very strong homegrown technology sector, a factor which could be linked to their evident interest in the burgeoning new world of NFTs.
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Whether or not a country is actively producing companies that support or add to NFT and blockchain technology is a good measure of how engaged they are with NFTs, and how invested in the further development of this new sphere of tech. Here we can see the countries that are home to the headquarters of the largest number of NFT-related companies, indicating that they are at the forefront of driving development in the NFT sector
NFT companies in country
The United States has the highest number of NFT companies in the world at 91 in total. This makes the USA the global leader in NFT-related industries, setting the direction of development in this new emerging sector.
NFT companies in country
The island nation of Singapore takes second place with 24 NFT companies calling it home. This is a huge number of companies for such a small country, and is testament to the nation’s burgeoning tech credentials.
NFT companies in country
In third place is India, which has a total of 11 NFT companies with their headquarters in the country. India is known for having a strong IT and communications sector so it should come as no surprise that a country this big is one of the top places for NFT companies.
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Another interesting factor to consider is where the biggest and most well-funded NFT companies are located. Here you can see those companies that have received the highest levels of funding in our study.
Funding raised
Forte Labs specialises in integrating blocking technology into games to enable a variety of features that allow for the inclusion of tokens and NFT trading. These features include embeddable token wallets, NFT mining and selling, payment rails and more. Games with these features allow players to truly own in-game goods and items, providing new levels of involvement and economic opportunities to the game’s playerbase.
Funding raised
Sorare is a new way to play fantasy football using blockchain technology. In Sorare, players build a deck of 5 players using cards that are tradeable NFTs, allowing players to be truly invested in the football season and their managerial choices. Blockchain technology means these cards have provable scarcity, with some being extremely rare or even entirely unique.
Funding raised
Dapper Labs is a company that develops some of the most popular NFT games and collections including NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties. Their portfolio also includes tie-ins to other major sporting leagues such as NFL ALL DAY and UFC Strike, while they also have a LaLiga project currently in the works. Other non-sporting projects include the NFT battle royale game “Cheese Wizards” (yes, you read that correctly), as well as Dapper, which allows you to build your own projects in the metaverse.
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We wanted to find out which countries are the most engaged with the world of NFTs. To do this we looked at two main factors, the interest from the general public and the size of the industry in each country.
To measure public interest in NFTs measured the number of NFT-related searches using Google Keyword Planner and a range of common NFT-themed search queries. We then found the combined search volume of these queries for each country over the last 12 months and calculated the number searches per 100,000 people using population data from World Population Review. The higher the searches per head, the greater the interest in NFTs.
To measure the size of the NFT industry in each country we used data from Blockdata to count the number of companies in each country that operate within the NFT sphere. We also used this data to identify the most heavily-funded NFT companies in the world and reveal which countries they are based in.
