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A local crypto exchange in Singapore has reported a massive spike in trading volume this year despite the entry of foreign competitors servicing the local digital assets market. The increased trading activity has been primarily driven by younger investors.
The pro-crypto island state has one of the highest adoption rates of digital currencies in the world with a majority of its citizens have invested in crypto. A 2021 survey by the 2021 Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index revealed that 66 percent of the respondents between 26 and 45 years old own digital currencies, according to Cointelegraph.
Given such high adoption, it’s not surprising that Singapore-based crypto exchange Coinhako experienced a 700 percent spike in the number of traders on its platform during the first half of 2021. The company said that there has been “a greater appetite for crypto from millennials,” who are mostly white-collar professionals between the ages of 26 and 45.
Coinhako’s trading volume rose by over 1000 percent during the first nine months of 2021 compared to the volume for the entire 2020. What’s surprising is that the local crypto platform managed to achieve this feat despite the increasing presence of leading global platforms in the Singaporean market.
With the increasing crypto adoption among its citizens, Singapore appears poised to become the next crypto hub in South East Asia. “Worldwide adoption is necessary for Bitcoin to succeed. And I believe Singapore is the place for Bitcoin in Asia,” said Boost VC CEO Adam Draper, one of the exchange’s high-profile investors, adding that the exchange’s volume will likely exceed 10 billion SGD ($7 billion) by the end of 2021.
According to Coinhako’s co-founder and CEO, Yusho Liu, it’s within expectations for Singapore to catch up to its international counterparts in terms of adoption. “Given how the crypto markets in the US and Europe have developed, we believe it is only a matter of time that the crypto industry in this part of the world will likewise take off,” he said.
Founded in 2014, Coinhako is one of the longest-standing platforms in the region. The exchange has over 300,000 users in Singapore and thousands more in Vietnam.
