# What are the most commonly discussed chain in Japan? (Jan 2022 - Jan 2023) - quick read *Tweet analysis of common chains in Japan* By [noobplayer.eth](https://paragraph.com/@noobplayer.eth) ยท 2023-01-27 cryptocurrency, blockchain, japan, solana, astar, xrp, xym --- Disclaimer: ----------- The analysis was conducted by using ticker symbol $XXX, and only about 10% of the total tweets could be recorded with country information. **Chains were cherry picked** based on knowledge of the author. Not a strict academic analysis. This article is intended to roughly provide overview of Japan crypto market, which are not often covered in the international crypto media. Moreover, its just for trial purpose so will keep it very short. Introduction: ------------- Japanese Crypto Market is Unique. You will often encounter coins on twitter timeline that you have never heard any English speakers talk about (Likes of Jasmy, Symbol etc.). We also observe unconditional love for the XRP, numerous domestic NFT projects, and hard-core crypto degens who are hunting for the pieces of fortune cookies. There is a clear trend of which coins or tokens are favored by each type of crypto investors. I am intending to write about it in a separate article describing different types of Japanese investors, and what are their most probable choice of coins or tokens. ### Which coins had the most mention last year? Tweets taken are only limited to ticker symbols ($XXX). Reason being many users mention it differently for each coins (e.g. Ripple for $XRP). Their conditions are kept equal for fair comparison. Take it as one of the indicator. Also, location data is not always shared by the twitter users, so we could reasonably expect that actual number of tweet would well exceed 10x multiplier. Results ------- ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d38be6e072feab0f3a0657c0de39f289.png) Ticker tweets for the past year **Solana** is the most tweeted chain with almost half a million tweets (493k), followed by **Ethereum** (220k) and **Bitcoin** (75k). **XRP** comes in 4th (47k). 5th - $XYM (10k) 6th - $ASTR (9.3k) 7th - $DOT (4.8k) 8th - $APTOS (3k) ### Why Solana? ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/92cee4a049d167857804e5afd3436efd.png) $SOL tweet volume This chart should be self-explanatory. These were times when STEPN was booming around the world. Everyone was talking about it, and it even became a social phenomena in Japan. You could reasonably argue that without the rise of STEPN, Solana wouldn't have been in the top 3 list. It also brought lots of non crypto-native people into self-custody side of crypto, so that is a positive thing for the space. ### Other Chains **$DOT** is almost always in the top 10-15 range in terms of market cap. Recognition is real, and devs are putting some serious work under the leadership of Dr. Gavin Wood. You might wonder what the hell is $ASTR and $XYM which stands above $DOT? They are chains that are adopted in Japan, but not so much in the abroad scene. **$ASTR** - Astar is a project that won 3rd parachain in the Polkadot Parachain auction after Acala and Moonbeam back in Oct 2021. The founder is Sota Watanabe, who is Japanese and a famous media figure in Japanese Crypto scene. Its a Layer 1 smart contract platform, and also a competitor to Moonbeam. They have been patiently building their product for over 4 years. They also have a strong team, and a strong connection to Japanese govt. as well. **$XYM** - I don't know anything about the chain except that this is just a successful case of shill marketing in Japan. It attracted bunch of uneducated crypto beginners without the knowledge to objectively compare different chains. They mostly come from tiktok shills and stick to it until they realize there are better and competitive chains out there, or else leave the market and never come back and touch crypto. You will know if you see below. Self-explanatory. ![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FH4m7g_aAAAVpS7?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) Being a Millennial generation of Japan, I have seen the decline of Japan as global power horse in front of my own eyes. One of the reason is we make our own rules that are only applicable to Japan and leads to uncompetitiveness in the global market. (e.g. Smartphone & Japanese flip-phones). We hope it does not happen again in the web3, crypto space, but lots of work around regulation/taxation are to be fixed in utter urgency. Cheers! ### Subscribe for more content like this! [Subscribe](/@noobplayer.eth/mBPxUUH3UYaT9H3oUtTF) also follow me on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/ChonmageF) * * * **Additional tit bits** ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FH4pUyiakAAS1ll?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) $XRP mention (end of 2021) **XRP** is considered to be one of the most common chain in Japan, and when I looked at the tweet ranking of $XRP by country back in 2021, it was global **5th** (43.4k). By the way, duration was only 6 months as compared to one year for the latest rankings. ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FH4nCsqaQAICJip?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) $BTC mention (end of 2021) Whereas, for **BTC** Japan stands at 11th (56.1k) globally. --- *Originally published on [noobplayer.eth](https://paragraph.com/@noobplayer.eth/bobotango)*