2021 was a year of huge growth for crypto markets. A resounding figure comes from a recent report by Singapore’s Coinhako exchange.
Coinhako, the Singapore exchange
It is a crypto exchange that has been active since 2014, and is in fact the country’s leading cryptocurrency exchange platform, with more than 400,000 registered users representing almost 10% of Southeast Asia’s peak.
It is also backed by major investors including Tim Draper, BoonHwee Koh, as well as established venture capital firms such as Boost VC, Jump Capital, SBI Holdings, Sygnum Bank and Azimut Investment Management.
Last year, Coinhako‘s total trading volume was about 7 billion Singapore dollars, or 5.1 billion US dollars. Compared to 2020, this was a 1,200% increase, with +522% growth in new account openings, and a 1,000% increase in the average number of monthly active users on its trading platform.
In just one year it has more than doubled the number of registered users.
It is worth noting that during 2021, many Chinese investors and speculators had to search for new platforms on which to trade cryptocurrencies, due to new bans imposed by China. This phenomenon may have played a role in the boom of the Singapore exchange.
According to the exchange’s operators, a strong push has also come from changes in the crypto sector as a whole, including institutional investment in Bitcoin, the explosion of the NFT market and the emergence of decentralized finance (DeFi).
The reasons for Coinhako’s exponential growth
Coinhako worked with Appetite to launch the first large-scale NFT initiative in Singapore. It also partnered with GrabPay to provide an alternative payment method to purchase digital assets.
So on the one hand there have been macro-level phenomena that have pushed more Singaporeans into the crypto markets, and on the other hand there have been specific actions by the exchange that have allowed it to attract new users.
The exchange in 2021 experienced growth across all customer segments, with the 26-41 age group continuing to account for the majority of its users. The greatest growth, however, occurred in the under-25 age group, with a 944% increase over 2020. These are mostly retail customers.
Coinhako co-founder and CEO Yusho Liu said:
“2021 was a year of growth and consolidation for Coinhako. We projected the proliferation of crypto and strategically planned for the company’s growth. As such, the platform was successful in scaling up, ensuring that Coinhako remained robust in handling the surge in users and trading volume. Though the market was generally positive, the crypto economy experienced a winter in late-2021. Despite this, we retained our trading volume and Coinhako saw continued growth in user acquisition.
For 2022, I anticipate that the increasing institutional adoption of crypto, steady uptake from retail, and broader regulatory guidance, will act as tailwinds to the maturation of the crypto space, solidifying its prominence on the global stage”.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/04/23/coinhako-1200-volume-by-2021-in-singapore/