Coinbase Losing to Offshore Exchanges Dues to Relaxed Regulations Outside the US

As regulators keep a strict eye on cryptocurrencies and its exchanges in the United States and Europe, the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the west to the likes of Coinbase and Bitstamp have seen a comparative drop in their trading volumes while the exchanges in East especially in Japan and Korea namely OKEx have seen to be gaining them.

Coinbase trading volume plummets 83%

According to the data released by CoinApi, cryptoasset research firm Diar, the USD-denominated cryptocurrency trading has plunged in 2018, even as large cryptocurrency-to-cryptocurrency exchanges headquartered in other parts of the world have seen stable or even rising volumes. According to the publication, Coinbase — the most well-known cryptocurrency trading platform in the U.S. — has seen volumes plunge by 83 percent from their all-time high in January. In July, Coinbase processed an estimated $3.9 billion worth of trades, down from a peak of nearly $21 billion.

Binance, the world’s largest order-book cryptocurrency exchange, has also seen a moderate decline in volumes in its BTC, ETH, BCH, and LTC markets (the four cryptocurrencies that have been available on Coinbase throughout 2018), from $17.5 billion in February to a low of $9.4 billion in June. However, Binance volume jumped 21 percent the next month, reaching $11.3 billion in July.

Coinbase although has been working steadily on providing new products to its users. The popular exchange has opened a second front with Decentralized Bulletin Board Paradex which as of last week has 19 cryptocurrencies. Coinbase has renamed their ERC20 mobile wallet Toshi, to Coinbase Wallet, in an effort to streamline the brand across the board. As well as creating a better user experience to send to contacts, rather than long-string addresses, the new app will also support airdrops.

Also, read: Coinbase Coming Close to Holding an Impenetrable Competitive Position: Report

The crypto exchanges regulation is the western world slightly tougher than eastern countries

While the countries across the globe are building regulations to control exchanges and cryptocurrencies, a lot of analysts believes things are much laid back in the eastern world than the western world. Here is the overview of exchange regulations in some of the major countries in the world.

• Japan: Exchanges are legal if they are registered with the Japanese Financial Services Agency. Japan is the biggest market for bitcoin. Almost half of the digital currency’s daily volume is traded in the country’s currency, according to data from Cryptocompare.
• South Korea: Trading in South Korea makes up about 4 percent of the daily volume of bitcoin. For another cryptocurrency such as XRP, trading in the Korean won commands a premium to U.S. dollars. The exchanges here Legal but the use of anonymous bank accounts for virtual coin trading is prohibited. Need to register with South Korea’s Financial Services Commission.
• USA:  U.S. regulators differ in their definitions of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The exchange regulations also change from state to state making it really difficult for investors and traders.

As we see the regulations are defined and pretty friendly in Korea and Japan compared the United States, one sees large volumes in the exchanges in these countries.

The US regulators definitely need to work seriously if it wishes to stay ahead in the race and not lose to its eastern counterparts in the nascent technology called cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Will US regulations ease in times to come and support exchanges like Coinbase? Do let us know your views on the same.