Singapore-based investment firm – DBS Digital Exchange – said cryptocurrency transactions more than doubled on its platform following the June market crash.
This comes as a surprise as numerous other exchanges, including CryptoCom, Coinbase, Gemini and Bybit, have had to lay off a chunk of their staff due to the collapse in prices and the consecutive outflow of investors.
It is worth mentioning that Piyush Gupta, CEO of the trading venue’s parent company, DBS Bank, is a staunch supporter of cryptocurrencies. Not long ago, he predicted that they will play a key role in the future financial network and may even become an alternative to gold.
The counter-effect
The collapse of Terra in May caused a massive crisis in the cryptocurrency sector. At the time, the project’s algorithmic stablecoin – UST – and its native token – LUNA – plummeted to practically zero causing multi-million dollar losses for investors.
Soon after, other entities such as Celsius and Three Arrows Capital also encountered significant problems. The former stopped the withdrawals citing “extreme market conditions”, while a court in the British Virgin Islands ordered the liquidation of the second.
All those negative events, combined with runaway inflation around the world, the military conflict in Ukraine and the energy crisis, among other reasons, have caused a huge crash in the cryptocurrency market. At one point, bitcoin plummeted to $ 17,500, a level not seen since late 2020.
Contrary to the decline, however, Singapore’s digital asset platform – DBS Digital Exchange – said the past couple of months have been quite successful as the number of cryptocurrency transactions has increased more than twice as high as the data before June. Speaking of bitcoin, the amount purchased by users was four times higher than in April.
“Investors today are instead looking for safe havens to trade and store their digital assets amid continuing market volatility,” said Lionel Lim, CEO of DBS Digital Exchange.
The growing appetite for digital assets expressed by Singaporeans could be explained by the fact that the country’s authorities are willing to establish the city-state as a global blockchain hub. They also showed their intention to apply strict rules in space and ensure maximum protection for domestic investors.
The crypto position of Gupta
In March of this year, Piyush Gupta, CEO of Singapore’s largest financial institution, DBS Bank, envisioned bitcoin as an alternative to gold and its valuation. He also thinks that the cryptocurrency industry will play a vital role in the future monetary system.
However, the current volatility of the asset class remains an obstacle. For this reason, digital assets cannot be classified as “money as we know it,” concluded the executive:
“The other big challenge is the volatility of the value. If you want to use it to pay for something, you don’t know how much it is costing you. Cryptocurrencies are a potential source of speculated value today. “
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