Indian crypto exchanges say they’re not concerned about current bear market

11 Jul, 2021 06:02

Indian exchanges are unfazed by the current downturn in cryptocurrency trading, and see it as an opportunity to innovate until crypto starts its ascent again, Business Insider India reports.

A bear market brings in an opportunity for us to further strengthen security and work on building educational initiatives to bring more awareness around crypto as an asset class,” Ashish Singhal, CEO of India-based digital asset platform CoinSwitch Kuber, told the media. Singhal noted that “volatility is just a part of market building,” indicating that the market may see a steady recovery in the months to come.

Also on rt.com Bitcoin slides amid broader cryptocurrency market sell-off

Other Indian crypto exchanges echoed the sentiment, including CoinDCX and WazirX. Sumit Gupta, CoinDCX’s CEO & co-founder, said that a strong regulatory framework may even “help propel the next growth phase of crypto adoption” in India. He also noted that the drop in the amount of cryptocurrency held on exchanges may mean that more people are holding their tokens off the exchange.

“Consolidation is widely considered to be a sign of the crypto markets maturing, with more investors adopting a longer-term approach towards crypto assets,” Gupta said.

To date, the amount of bitcoin held on exchanges compared to the total number of coins in circulation has dropped to 13% – its lowest in six months, as data from crypto analytics group Santiment shows. Similarly, the ratio of Ethereum held on exchanges fell to 18%. In India, the trading volume within most crypto exchanges fell nearly 50% since the peak reached in April.

Also on rt.com Did bitcoin billionaire Mircea Popescu take his crypto fortune to his grave? RT’s Boom Bust investigates

The recent rise in stocks of bitcoin mining companies like Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital, and Nvidia is seen by experts as a good omen for cryptocurrency prices, with crypto research firm Fundstrat stating that bitcoin mining stocks traditionally rise and fall ahead of bitcoin itself. Other experts, however, suggest bitcoin will have to fall even lower – to at least $25,000 – before the market goes up again.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section