Major crypto exchanges eye Asian market amid growing regulatory clarity

cointelegraph.com:

Major crypto exchanges originating from Asia as well as from the West have shown an increasing interest in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Coinbase launched in Japan last year, joining the selected group of exchanges to offer crypto trading services to native customers. Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange by trading volume, has forged a series of new partnerships in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.

The growing interest in global crypto exchanges in Asia could be attributed to the crypto craze in the region, despite regulatory uncertainty in several countries. The Asia-Pacific region is currently the hub for the majority of crypto growth. Countries such as Singapore and Thailand have seen a great boom in crypto adoption both as a retail payment as well as a form of investment. 

Mastercard Asia-Pacific executive vice president Rama Sridhar said in an interview with TechAsia that compared to the global market, “adoption rates for emerging payment options have always been better within the Asian region.” A survey conducted by Mastercard across 18 markets in 2020 suggested 94% of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region are considering using emerging payments methods. 

Jackson Mueller, director of policy and government relations at Securrency — a financial markets infrastructure company — sees the prominence of digital payment and peer-to-peer market growth as one of the key reasons behind Asia’s growing influence as a crypto hub. He told Cointelegraph:

“It’s also important to note that we’re just beginning to see the emergence of crypto assets frameworks in the region, alongside ongoing efforts to improve current domestic payments systems, interlink these systems with neighboring countries, and promote capital markets