Vietnam and Thailand have overtaken Singapore, the financial center of Southeast Asia, to become the region’s “hot spot” for cryptocurrency trading.
According to data published on September 21 by blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis, two Southeast Asian countries recorded a record number of crypto transactions worth more than USD 100 billion each in the period from July 2021 to June 2022.
(Photo: Forkast)
“Users in low-middle and upper-middle income countries often use crypto to deposit and hold funds during times of high volatility of fiat currencies,” Chainalysis said. “These countries rely more on Bitcoin and stablecoins than other countries.”
Specifically, Thailand recorded the number of cryptocurrencies traded worth USD 135.9 billion, while in Vietnam this figure was USD 112.6 billion. Singapore, the regional financial center, reached only USD 100.3 billion in the same period.
Still, the crypto market declines so far are making investors increasingly cautious. In May, the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin and the LUNA token collapsed spectacularly, wiping out tens of billions of dollars.
Last week, the highly anticipated upgrade to Ethereum, the blockchain technology underlying Ether, the world’s second-largest coin after Bitcoin, failed to raise the token’s price despite the excitement surrounding the event. is a turning point with virtual assets.
“Risks are increasingly weighing on the market with macro factors such as inflation and rising interest rates, raising the risk of a global recession,” said Vijay Ayyar, VP of crypto platform Luno.
According to accounting firm KPMG, the shareholders behind the company do not seem interested in digital tokens.
Figures from KPMG also show that crypto investments in Singapore have fallen by more than 50% so far this month. Cryptocurrency inflows fell to USD 539.1 million in the first six months of 2022, from USD 1.3 billion in the second half of last year.
@ vietnamnet
