U.S. investors may be the biggest winners in the Bitcoin bull market? Chainalysis reports that U.S. investors have earned as much as $4.1 billion in Bitcoin

According to a report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, U.S.-based Bitcoin investors realized $4.1 billion in Bitcoin gains in 2020.

The report states, “U.S. investors realized a total of over $4 billion in Bitcoin gains in 2020, more than three times the second-place country, China. This may seem surprising considering that China historically has by far the highest raw cryptocurrency trading volume, but… U.S.-focused exchanges saw huge inflows in 2020, almost all of which came before the end of the year.”

Chainalysis roughly calculated global 2020 Bitcoin gains by measuring on-chain funds flowing to different cryptocurrency exchanges, and then by measuring the difference in the USD price of that Bitcoin when it was withdrawn from the platform and when it was received. "We then allocated these gains (or losses) by country based on each country's share of web traffic on each exchange's site. This analysis gives us a reasonable estimate of the realized gains made by Bitcoin investors in each country in 2020, although it does not take into account gains on assets that have not yet been withdrawn from exchanges."

After the United States and China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Russia are among the top five countries for Bitcoin earnings in 2020. The report also highlights that many countries appear to be enjoying incredibly high Bitcoin earnings compared to traditional economic rankings.

In terms of national economic size, Vietnam, the Czech Republic, Türkiye and Spain are all countries with extremely high Bitcoin returns.

Meanwhile, India’s bitcoin gains have underperformed compared to its overall economic strength, a phenomenon that could stem from regulatory uncertainty surrounding bitcoin in the country.

Overall, the report paints a predictable picture: Bitcoin’s stunning bull run throughout much of 2020 and 2021 means that many people around the world have made huge gains thanks to the asset. But it does show some interesting trends within that big picture.

The report also wrote, "The data shows that Bitcoin allows investors in emerging markets to access a high-performing asset that they may not normally have access to. On the other hand, it also shows that countries that try to restrict the use of cryptocurrencies through heavy-handed regulations are preventing their citizens from enjoying this wave of dividends."