An excerpt from the upcoming Chainalysis report on the geography of cryptocurrencies for 2020 claims that crypto assets worth more than $ 50 billion were transferred from Chinese addresses to foreign accounts.
Interesting facts concerning the crypto market. On August 20, a blockchain research firm published an excerpt detailing the Easy Asian cryptocurrency markets. Chainalysis reports that East Asia accounted for more than 30 percent of global cryptocurrency transactions last year.
The fact that China plays an important role in Bitcoin mining is highlighted. The country accounts for more than 60 percent of the global hashrate of BTC mining, and most of the newly mined coins come from addresses in Asia.
Altcoin trading.
The East Asian market seems very interested in trading a broader portfolio of alternative cryptocurrencies than its European or American counterparts.
Trading in alternative coins accounted for about 16 percent of trading volume over the past year, well ahead of most other trading regions listed in the report. Another interesting discovery is that Bitcoin accounts for only 51 percent of trading volume, which is the result of more interest in trading alternative coins and stablecoins.
Analysis of various alternative coins shows that Litcoin has a larger share of trading volume in East Asia, compared to other regions. Crypto.com Coin, Maker and Bitcoin Cash are also more actively traded in these markets.
Crypto users from this region trade more often than American traders, who tend to buy and store cryptocurrency for longer periods of time. Stablecoins.
Another important conclusion from the report is the role that stablecoins play in the East Asian market. The use of stable coins accounts for up to 33 percent of all trading activity on the network.
Demand for Tether (USDT), a stablecoin backed by the us dollar, was so high that in June 2020 it overtook Bitok as the most popular cryptocurrency by addresses in East Asia.
Tether largely holds a monopoly on the stable coin market in the region, accounting for 93 percent of stablecoin trading volume over the past 12 months.
Tether’s success is directly related to China’s ban on buying cryptocurrency for yuan back in 2017, while its purchase for Fiat currency is also not allowed by the new rules.
To circumvent these sanctions, users are reportedly buying Tether from over-the-counter merchants as a substitute for the Fiat currency. Users buy it and leave it in their wallet or exchange account to simplify transactions.
This also reduces the risk inherent in storing bitcoins for trading, as Their value is subject to volatility.
The outflow of cryptocurrency.
The excerpt concludes with an analysis of the outflow of cryptocurrency from China over the past 12 months. He emphasizes that $ 50 billion worth of crypts have moved from East Asian addresses to international ones.
While it is unlikely that much of this amount is accounted for by capital flight from the region, part of this figure will come from people moving valuables from East Asian addresses. Rules in China prohibit citizens from taking more than $ 50,000 out of the country, but in the past few decades, people have invested in real estate and other assets abroad, as a temporary solution.
Overall, the analysis provides some interesting insights about the trading environment in East Asia and how it has become an integral part of the global cryptocurrency trading environment.
