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← The Crypto Livability Index

N.America · Pioneer

United States(USA)

Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025

Livability rank
#32 / 79
Rails rank
#3 / 79
Need shift
▼ -29

Scoreboard

Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.

Five pillars
P1 Access15 / 16
P2 Regulation13 / 20
P3 Spending20 / 20
P4 Infrastructure8 / 12
P5 Community15 / 16
22 sub-pillars (0–4)
4
P1.1
Exchange access
not scored
P1.2
P2P liquidity
4
P1.3
ATM density
3
P1.4
On/off-ramp friction
4
P1.5
Stablecoin access
3
P2.1
Legal status
2
P2.2
Tax treatment
3
P2.3
Income legality
1
P2.4
KYC burden
4
P2.5
Regulatory trajectory
4
P3.1
Gift cards
4
P3.2
Direct merchants
4
P3.3
Crypto cards
4
P3.4
Utility bills
4
P3.5
Connectivity
4
P4.1
Internet penetration
4
P4.2
Smartphone penetration
0
P4.4
Remittance corridor
double-edged
4
P5.1
Meetups and events
4
P5.2
Crypto media
4
P5.3
Social sentiment
3
P5.4
Developer density

The number behind the rank

Raw capability score71 / 84
P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker)+1
Inflation 3.3% · unbanked 3% · remittances 0% GDP · capital controls 0 · sanctions 0 CNI 0.019
Need multiplier×0.529
Livability score0.447

Raw 71/84 = 0.845 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.02, from five components: inflation 3.3% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 3% of adults, remittances 0% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.00 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×0.53. Livability score 0.447, rank #32 of 79.

Three findings

The deepest rails in the world, attached to the smallest reason to use them

The United States ranks #3 of 79 on raw capability but falls 29 places to #32 once the Crypto-Necessity Index (the composite of inflation, unbanked share, remittance dependence, capital controls and sanctions) is applied. The cause is structural calm: inflation 3.3%, 3% unbanked, inbound remittances 0% of GDP for the world's largest sending economy at $103 billion paid out in 2024, no capital controls. The need multiplier of 0.53 nearly halves the score. Capability is maximal; necessity is near-zero.

29,948 crypto ATMs, the most of any country on earth

US ATM density tops the index at 764 machines per 1 million urban residents across New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, against three machines in all of Argentina. The country also posts the index's highest event-density ratio, 44.89, anchored by gatherings such as ETHDenver at 15,000 attendees, and the deepest peer-to-peer and decentralised-finance liquidity measured anywhere.

The first federal crypto law in US history was signed in 2025

President Trump signed the GENIUS Act on 18 July 2025, the first federal statute on digital assets, establishing a framework for payment stablecoins; it passed 68 to 30 in the Senate and 308 to 122 in the House. By December 2025 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had granted national trust-bank charters to Circle, Paxos and three others, with roughly $280 billion in stablecoins outstanding at year-end.

In one line

"The United States built the deepest crypto rails on the planet and then, with a stable dollar in every pocket, found it had the least reason of almost anyone to walk them. In 2025 it chose to lead anyway, by law."

Watch in 2026

Trajectory 4/4, actively liberalising, the strongest score in the dataset. The Treasury published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on 19 September 2025 to implement the GENIUS Act, with stablecoin rules due to take shape through 2026. The CLARITY Act passed the House in July 2025 and awaited a Senate vote at the cutoff; passage would settle the long-running split between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over which regulator governs digital assets. From 1 January 2025 brokers must report digital-asset sales on the new Form 1099-DA, tightening tax enforcement.

Regional neighbours
Data vintage 31 December 2025 · CLI vv1.3 · Genghis Research · CC BY 4.0