In 2021, NFTs have gained big momentum in central East and Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and China.

According to the Statista Digital Economy Compass 2022, Thailand topped the list of countries with the highest number of NFT users globally in 2021, with a total of 5.65 million users.

Brazil came in second with 4.99 million users, followed by the United States with 3.81 million, China with 2.68 million, and Vietnam with 2.19 million.

With 8.08 per cent of its population owning digital property, Thailand was still ahead of other countries in the top ten largest consumers when population sizes were taken into account. Meanwhile, the number of NFT users accounted for 2.43 per cent of the total population in Vietnam.

The report attributed the rise of NFT in Vietnam to various factors including the popularity of play-to-earn games such as Axie Infinity by the Vietnamese company Sky Mavis, as well as the growing number of artists displaying their portfolios on social media channels like Discord and Twitter. Users can also acquire NFTs of virtual land such as blocks of land in a virtual downtown Bangkok during the Metaverse Thailand virtual sale in October.

Meanwhile, a survey by Australian data research company Finder from March to May also revealed that Vietnam ranks fifth in the world in terms of NFT game players, despite the growing popularity of play-to-earn entertainment platforms.

About 23 per cent of surveyed respondents in Vietnam say they play NFT games, and 9.6 per cent indicate they continue to do so in the future.

According to nonfungible.com’s research, trading in NFT tokens hit $17.6 billion in 2021, an increase of 21,000 per cent from 2020. More than 2.5 million crypto wallets belonged to people holding or trading NFTs in 2021, up from just 89,000 a year earlier. The number of buyers rose to 2.3 million from 75,000.