This paper examines factors affecting the adoption of cryptocurrency across 158 countries worldwide. To this end, we collected cryptocurrency adoption data from Chainalysis’s reports and macroeconomic data from the World Development Indicators platform. We find that greater import volumes, larger population size, more sufficient levels of the labor force, higher unemployment rate, and a higher level of electricity access are associated with a greater level of cryptocurrency adoption. On the other hand, a higher level of government spending and a greater level of domestic savings are associated with a lower level of cryptocurrency adoption. In addition, we also find that the population size and level of the labor force have a negative impact on the three subcomponents of the cryptocurrency adoption index including (i) centralized service value received (CeFi); (ii) the volume of exchange trading (P2P); and (iii) the received DeFi value (DeFi). We find that while the import volumes and level of electricity access have an opposite relationship with the centralized service value received and the DeFi value received, GDP has a negative effect on the DeFi value received. Meanwhile, greater government spending and higher domestic savings are associated with a greater level of exchange trade volume P2P. In terms of urbanization, whereas it shows a positive impact on the exchange trade volume P2P, it has the opposite effect on the DeFi value received.