If many sectors are shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic, this is not the case for cryptocurrencies, which are not experiencing the crisis. The year 2021 will remain a very good vintage, as evidenced by the volume of trade in these digital assets, which has literally jumped in the last twelve months. It soared 689%, with more than 14 trillion dollars traded this year, against 1800 billion in 2020, according to figures released by the firm The Block.
In this historic year, May shattered all records, with $ 2,230 billion traded in that month. For comparison, that figure was only $ 103 billion in May 2020. As of May 25, 2021 alone, a trade volume of $ 89 billion was observed by The Block.
Binance, winner of the year
It should be noted that these amounts relate to centralized exchanges, that is to say transactions carried out by intermediaries, like Coinbase or Binance. As for decentralized exchanges, they also had a good year, with a transaction volume of more than 1000 billion dollars, against 115 billion dollars a year earlier. This represents an even more dramatic increase than centralized exchanges, with an 858% jump in one year.
This craze for cryptocurrencies has greatly benefited the Binance platform. Used by 85 million people, it captures nearly 70% of the exchanges carried out in the world. The Block points out that Binance served as an intermediary for more than $ 9,500 billion in transactions in 2021. In this record year, bitcoin crossed a new historic threshold with a price of more than $ 68,000. In addition, $ 30 billion was invested in the sector by venture capital funds around the world, four times more than in 2018.