More than 14 trillion dollars were traded this year, ten times more than in 2020.
Shattering Coinbase IPO, new heights for Bitcoin and breakthrough with the general public … 2021 is the year of all records for cryptocurrencies. According to figures released on December 24 by analysts at The Block, the volume of trading in these assets is booming. More than 14 trillion dollars were traded in 2021, against 1.8 trillion in 2020, a record increase of 689%.
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The most spectacular growth took place in May of this year. In that month alone, $ 2.2 trillion was traded, up from just $ 103 billion a year earlier.
These 14,000 billion represent the sum of so-called centralized exchanges, transactions passing through intermediaries such as CoinHouse or Binance. A previous study by the same analyst also highlights strong growth in trade without intermediaries. The sum of these direct transactions is around 1000 billion dollars this year against 115 billion last year (+ 858%).
Binance is riding the wave
This favorable wind for digital assets is particularly beneficial to one platform: Binance. This cryptocurrency exchange tool, used by 85 million people, monopolizes around 70% of transactions carried out in the world. So they managed “over $ 9,500 billion”Of transactions this year according to this study.
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The company launched in 2016 is remunerated through a commission system on each transaction. The CEO of the firm Changpeng Zhao indicated in September that the American branch of Binance would soon be listed on the stock exchange.
This prosperity has caught the eye of regulators around the world. The German and South Korean authorities are investigating, for example, questions of consumer protection or the suppression of money laundering.