Image: Cryptocurrency regulation, by designer491, via Shutterstock.com
IdentifyMind[1], a Californian regtech company that serves cryptocurrency exchanges among other clients, believes that these platforms will witness explosive growth in the coming months, the company said on Tuesday.
According to Neal Reiter, director of the ICO and virtual currency business unit of IdentityMind, there’s tremendous growth in cryptocurrency exchanges but most people just aren’t seeing it. He expects continued momentum for the months ahead.
“In 2013, when the price of one bitcoin went from US$150 to US$1,200, we saw the formation of hundreds of exchanges in the US and Japan,” Reiter said. “However, this year while bitcoin’s price has fluctuated from US$17,000 to US$6,000, and while we again saw a large number of exchanges, this time they were in Latin and South America, South Asia and Africa.”
While smaller players are having difficulties entering larger and established markets, larger players are giving it a go, hoping to find efficiencies due to their size and ability to subsidize losses in the meantime.
Examples include Japan’s cryptocurrency exchange BitFlyer, which launched in the US[2] in November 2017 and Europe earlier this year[3], and China’s Huobi, which opened[4] registration for its new US-based platform HBUS just last week. Huobi also operates an Australian platform[5] and recently opened an office in London[6] ahead of a European launch.
US cryptocurrency exchange leader Coinbase launched a Japan office in June[7], and China’s Binance is investing in Bermuda[8] and opened an exchange in Uganda[9] a few weeks ago.
As we move into the second half of 2018, IdentityMind anticipates that large companies such as Huobi will continue to expand as they compete against
