The crypto winter has had investors worried about their investments. However, Asia has solidified itself as a haven during this crypto winter. Compared to the US, Asia has had better reliance during this bearish period, and investors are confident that Asia is a considerable safe haven in the crypto winter season.
The crypto world has always been highly volatile and wildly unpredictable. Considering the meteoric surge of Bitcoin, a lot of altcoins have emerged since its inception, others being resilient to the ups and downs of the crypto market. Currently, the crypto market is experiencing a crypto winter. This implies the bearish sentiments and dwindling crypto prices since late last year.
The current crypto winter period
Asia has solidified itself as a unique crypto haven, considering a large number of countries in support of digital asset adoption. Among them are Hong Kong, China, and Singapore. An example is the crypto conference held in Singapore in September; and this attracted an unanticipated crowd of over 20,000 attendees, bringing together a large community of crypto and blockchain enthusiasts.
These regions have played an important role in pivoting and shaping the cryptocurrency industry.
Majorly, these regions have become familiar with crypto-friendly regulations and stay compliant with them in fostering innovation and development of crypto and blockchain technology. The regulatory clarity and strict implementation make Asia a uniquely suitable region for investors and assist in realizing the potential of blockchain tech.
The United States, on the other hand, has been experiencing an ominous cloud of flurry of actions against cryptocurrencies brought by the government. The crypto titans affected include Ripple, Coinbase, Binance, and FTX, and the happenings around these firms have brought uncertainty in their underlying assets and the crypto universe at large.
The Washington regulators blended with the Federal Reserve raising the federal fund rate has greatly impacted broader interest rates.
According to Kevin Goldstein, senior advisor to HashKey Capital, one of Hong Kong’s leading crypto exchanges, the acts by the US regulators have had negative impacts on the crypto industry. He commented, “The resulting impact on broader interest rates has quite negatively impacted VC investment in the crypto ecosystem.”
Considering these negative implications, crypto projects have been seeking alternative paths to grow their portfolios. As such, crypto projects have been looking past the United States and looking into Asia as a digital asset safe haven.
Asia’s growing crypto adoption
Asia is attributed to being a better option for crypto projects than the US based on the growing crypto adoption as well as policy development. Following the legalization of retail cryptocurrency trading in the region of Hong Kong, new Web3 startups have been drawn to the region in hopes of tapping into the vast investor base in China, where crypto is banned.
According to Paul Veradittakit, the managing partner at Pantera, a crypto venture capital firm, Token2049 has had the best gathering of US crypto VCs ever seen in an Asian crypto event.
He referred to Ripple’s acquisition of an approved license in Singapore that sought to offer payment services from its XRP tokens. In his words, Veradittakit started:
Things have changed quite a bit since FTX where there’s been a little bit more scrutiny around regulations in the U.S., while there have been some positive developments (in Asia) around stablecoins, XRP, or ETF possibilities.
Paul Veradittakit
Among the US crypto gurus that have shifted to Asia or are in plans to do so include Coinbase, Gemini, Paxos, CMT Digital, and Galaxy. Investors are seeking to grasp the crucial market opportunities in the geographically diverse region of Asia.
Moreover, regions like South Korea have had success in crypto adoption, considering their tokenomics incorporation into the fan economy. Japan, too, has a wealth of gaming intellectual products that are ready for NFT incorporation.
Hong Kong also has prominent financial hubs that spearhead the regulatory endeavor for crypto financial institutions.
