Major crypto exchanges originating from Asia as well as from the West have shown an increasing interest in the Asia-Pacific region. Coinbase launched in Japan last year, joining the selected group of exchanges to offer crypto trading services to native customers. Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange by trading volume, has forged a series of new partnerships in Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. The growing interest in global crypto exchanges in Asia could be attributed to the crypto craze in the region, despite regulatory uncertainty in several countries. The Asia-Pacific region is currently the hub for most of the crypto growth. Countries such as Singapore and Thailand have seen a great boom in crypto adoption both as a retail payment as well as a form of investment. It’s also important to note that we’re just beginning to see the emergence of crypto assets frameworks in the region, alongside ongoing efforts to improve current domestic payments systems, interlink these systems with neighboring countries, and promote capital markets development.
Asian markets accounted for 43% of global cryptocurrency activity or $296 billion in transactions between June 2020 and June 2021. The report further highlighted that the Central and Southern Asia and Oceania crypto market is the fourth largest in the world, and transaction activity there increased 706% in the same time frame. The leading global exchange by trading volume had a roller coaster of a ride in terms of regulations in 2021. After seeing a series of compliance warnings from nearly a dozen countries, Binance mended its way toward the end of the year. The exchange forged several new partnerships, but its growth in the Asia region was something that got everyone’s attention. The first United States crypto exchange to go public in 2021 is looking to expand to a global market. The exchange has been rapidly ramping up its presence in Southeast Asia and building new crypto infrastructure. In terms of regulatory headway, the crypto platform acquired an operating license in Japan last year. Coinbase officially launched in Japan in August 2021 after it had partnered with banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Japan is one of the first countries to adopt crypto and one of the biggest crypto markets by trading volume. Kraken, a global crypto exchange originating from the U.S., has had quite a success in the Asian markets. The exchange’s services are available in over 45 Asian nations, and it has grown to become one of the leading western exchanges to gain a footing in the Asian market. Leading crypto nations in the region such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore have deep liquidity pools. The region is also a top crypto spot market and accounts for more than 90% of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures trading volume. The nature of traditional finance has also played a key role in becoming a crypto hub, where capital controls in China and South Korea pushed people toward crypto, while low yields in Japan played a catalyst in fast crypto adoption.