Vietnam and Thailand overtook Singapore, the Southeast Asian financial hub, 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 trades worth more than 100 billion USD 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 fiat currency volatility,” said Chainalysis. “These countries tend to rely more on Bitcoin and stablecoins than other countries.”
Specifically, Thailand recorded the amount of cryptocurrencies traded worth 135.9 billion USD, while this figure in Vietnam was 112.6 billion USD. Singapore, the regional financial hub, only reached 100.3 billion USD in the same period.
Still, the year-to-date crypto market declines are making investors increasingly cautious. In May, the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and the LUNA token collapsed spectacularly, blowing away tens of billions of dollars.
Last week, the long-awaited upgrade to Ethereum, the blockchain technology underlying Ether, the world’s second-largest coin after Bitcoin, failed to boost 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 making the risk of a global recession looming,” said Vijay Ayyar, VP of crypto platform Luno.
According to accounting firm KPMG, the shareholders behind the business do not appear to be interested in digital tokens.
Figures from KPMG also show that crypto investment in Singapore has fallen by more than 50% so far this month. Cryptocurrency inflows fell to 539.1 million USD in the first six months of 2022, from 1.3 billion USD in the second half of last year.
@ Vietnamnet
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Source: Vietnam Insider