If there is one thing that has kept the entire planet of its feat in the year 2017, it has to be the Crypto Market. And if you haven’t heard of it, then I guess you well might have been living on a deserted island (just kidding).
Today, Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency. It has taken the world by storm with a growth rate of over 3000% in the past 12 months. People are still finding it hard to believe that a virtual asset has shown such a tremendous growth rate in such a short span of time. Today, the total market capitalization of these assets is more than $500 Billion. Apparently, something too big for just a click of a button.
The state of Asia and Crypto
When a huge chunk of money is flowing in and out, the Asian countries just can’t stay out of this game. Apart from grossly stereotyping my fellow Asian friends, they are actually good with numbers, finance, and technology, making them the perfect candidate to be a part of this global crypto market. With the crypto market’s growth, people’s interest is also growing at an exponential rate. So, let’s just first analyze the role of Asian countries in the crypto market.
On 27th September 2017, Japan’s Financial Services officially legalized 11 cryptocurrency exchanges. One of these exchanges, ‘bitFlyer’, has more than 800,000 active users trading in Bitcoin every day. On the other hand, it’s China that holds a major pool of the world’s Cryptocurrency miners due to their cheap electricity rates and advanced GPU powers. So, in no way is Asia new to this crypto market. They have already been an integral part of this market.
But what makes Asia so significant for the FURTHER growth of the Crypto Market?
It is interesting to see that cryptocurrencies are growing at a much faster rate in Asian exchanges compared to their western counterparts. While some people tag it as a gigantic bubble, others see the market as a future for the cashless economy.
- A lot of local exchanges in India jumped in, and suddenly, the market of cryptocurrency started to thrive in India. The prices of Bitcoins on Zebpay (Indian Bitcoin Exchange), which has over 1.3 lakh users (130,000 users), touched new heights by gaining 134% in its value in just 18 days after the announcement of demonetization.
- According to one of the leading newspapers, The Economics Times, nearly 10% of the world’s cryptocurrency started trading in India. They also estimated that the combined Bitcoin trading volumes in India were around Rs 500 Crores ($78,075,000) that month. Roughly, more than $210,000,000 worth of Bitcoins were traded that year. This goes on to show the power of just fractions of Indians in the Bitcoin market. Imagine the scenario if just 5% of the country’s population gets into the crypto market. Bam, there you go, to the moon.
- India has a growing Internet population with over 460 Million active users, second behind China. It is estimated that by 2021, this number will increase to 651 Million, and after the emergence of cheap and high-quality ‘4G – JIO’ network in the Indian market, the scope of the country’s population getting into the crypto market is promising. Even though the Government and the Reserve Bank of India are not optimistic about Bitcoin, they still believe in a cashless economy. They are promoting it through their own e-Wallet applications and websites. Ultimately, it’s the people who will make a smart decision of not just storing and transferring the value of their money but also multiplying it to several folds with the help of cryptocurrency.
All this being said, there shouldn’t be any hesitation in considering the fact that Asia is one of the most important pillars holding the roof of the cryptocurrency market. With its untapped potential, it won’t be wrong to say that we can visualize India, as well as the rest of Asia, as the leading players in the cryptocurrency market for the years to come.