Tag Archives: growing

Bitcoin’s US$100K Rally: Southeast Asia’s growing crypto revolution

Bitcoin’s US$100K Rally: Southeast Asia’s growing crypto revolution

It’s a milestone that’s been on global cryptocurrency enthusiasts’ minds for many years. Bitcoin’s recent rally to a value of US$100,000 has helped uncover Southeast Asia’s sky-high enthusiasm for crypto adoption and development.

The scale of Bitcoin’s ongoing rally is the topic of much debate, but its resonance in Asian economies appears assured regardless of the direction that the coin takes in the months ahead.

According to the 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) lead the world in crypto adoption with seven of the top 20 most active nations for both centralised and decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols.

At the forefront of this growth was Indonesia, which surpassed US$30 billion (IDR 475.13 trillion) in cryptocurrency transactions between January and October 2024, representing a growth of 352.89 per cent in comparison to the same period in 2023.

However, we’re also seeing widespread change at an institutional level, which could see significant growth in the number of cryptocurrency use cases in 2025 and beyond throughout the region. With interest in crypto reaching new levels in Southeast Asia, Bitcoin is becoming more accessible than ever before.

Proliferation of crypto services

Bitcoin’s recent growth has brought a series of watershed moments for Asian adoption of crypto. In November, ZA Bank, Hong Kong’s first and largest digital bank, became the continent’s first institution to offer cryptocurrency trading services directly to retail investors.

With ZA Bank’s app, it’s possible for users to frictionlessly trade cryptoucrrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum without the need for switching platforms in the process.

In November 2024, Japanese firm AEON announced the launch of a QR code payment system on Binance’s BNB Chain with Terminus, helping to scale crypto payment accessibility in Southeast Asia.

The tools are intended to make cryptocurrency payments a seamless experience for users and merchants, and the initiative could help leverage more offline cryptocurrency payments throughout the region.

Cryptocurrency payments have been identified as a leading payment trend due to their flexibility and security qualities, and opening the door to making purchases with coins like Bitcoin represents a major step toward acceptance.

Embracing AI and cryptocurrency: Is Hong Kong too ambitious?

Focused on leveraging Bitcoin as a primary reserve asset to optimise financial strategies and drive stakeholder value, Sora Ventures has launched a US$150 million fund to grow Bitcoin-focused investment strategies among listed companies throughout Asia.

Targeting companies listed on major stock exchanges throughout Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, and South Korea, the move is a conscious effort to replicate the success of MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin reserve model in the United States.

In the month following the US Presidential election which saw both Wall Street and cryptocurrency markets embark on a rally off the back of Donald Trump’s victory, Bitcoin’s 30% growth eclipsed the 14 per cent experienced by the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS), an exchange-traded fund that focuses on Wall Street’s seven largest companies by market capitalisation.

The expansion of investment options for Southeast Asia’s largest firms can open the door to better-managed growth, and the ability to embrace the historical outperformance of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin fully.

The world’s developer capital

It’s also important to highlight Southeast Asia’s invaluable role among crypto developers, with the continent surpassing North America in recent years to attain a strong market share.

Since 2015, Asia’s share of global cryptocurrency developers has rallied from just 13 per cent to 32 per cent, while North America’s market share fell from 44 per cent to 25 per cent over the same period.

While India has been a driving force in Asia’s newfound crypto dominance, nations like China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore have all helped to build a conducive infrastructure for crypto developers.

According to Singapore-based fund manager, Anndy Lian, the emerging markets of India and Southeast Asia where traditional banking infrastructure can be less accessible, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have helped to democratise financial services to residents.

It’s this necessity for innovation that appears to be positioning Southeast Asia at the forefront of crypto innovation, and the benefits are being reaped by retail investors and institutions alike.

According to a recent National Thailand report, nations like Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines possess high smartphone penetration rates, making cryptocurrency far more accessible during its ongoing market rally. As a result, we could see far more sustained adoption rates for crypto and DeFi services developed locally.

Challenges remain

Despite clear indications that Southeast Asia is embracing the ongoing cryptocurrency rally more enthusiastically than ever before, a number of challenges remain.

Cryptocurrency is famously volatile and open to exploitation among unwitting users. With Bitcoin’s historical bull runs giving way to substantial losses, both retail and institutional adopters will need to be wary of buying into crypto.

 

Source: https://e27.co/southeast-asia-leads-world-in-crypto-adoption-as-bitcoins-us100000-rally-presents-new-opportunities-and-challenges-20250103/

 

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Bitcoin 30% correction in play ahead of $100K BTC rally — Analysts

Bitcoin 30% correction in play ahead of $100K BTC rally — Analysts

Bitcoin could still see a correction of up to 30% during its uphill battle to conquer the six-figure price tag for the first time.

The Bitcoin BTCtickers down$95,749 price is currently down over 7% from its all-time high of around $99,800, breached on Nov. 22, Cointelegraph data shows.

While most analysts agree that topping $100,000 is only a matter of time, some analysts expect a deeper retracement before the milestone high.

Bitcoin could correct as deep as 30% before resuming its bullish run, according to Ryan Lee, the chief analyst at Bitget Research. The analyst told Cointelegraph:

“In its bid to cross the psychologically important $100,000 price level, investors will need to deal with intense corrections. Historical data trends show that Bitcoin may still correct as much as 30% before it reaches its cyclical top.”

While historical chart patterns aren’t always accurate in predicting future price action, a potential 30% correction from $99,800 would hypothetically tank Bitcoin price below $70,000.

Bitcoin breaching $100,000 is only a matter of time, and ETF inflows

While temporary corrections are an organic part of crypto bull markets, most analysts don’t expect the current correction to be long-lived.

This is because Bitcoin is set to surpass the $100,000 valuation in the short term, according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.

He told Cointelegraph:

“Bitcoin reaching $100,000 isn’t just a milestone; it’s a testament to the growing trust in decentralized finance and the relentless pursuit of financial sovereignty. As global adoption accelerates and institutional interest deepens, the $100,000 mark symbolizes not just a price, but a paradigm shift in how we perceive and utilize money.”

Sluggish investments in the United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have also contributed to Bitcoin’s price slump.

United States-based spot Bitcoin ETFs logged two days of net negative outflows, with net cumulative outflows of over $122 million on Nov. 26, Farside Investors data shows.

While slowing ETF inflows are common at the end of the month, a resurgence in ETF buying will help catalyze Bitcoin’s next leg up, according to Bitfinex analysts, who told Cointelegraph:

“Now that ETF flows appear to have hit a bump in the road and MicroStrategy purchases seem to have paused, it is quite normal for the price to undergo some correction and seek out a new supply-demand equilibrium as marginal buying ends.”

While Bitfinex analysts expect a correction of up to 20%, the analysts are confident that MicroStrategy’s latest $2.6 billion note sale and renewed ETF buying will bolster cryptocurrencies to new all-time highs leading into 2025.

 

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-30-correction-ahead-100k-btc-rally-analysts

 

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

$NEAR Protocol Keeps Growing in TVL — and Adds 18M Users

$NEAR Protocol Keeps Growing in TVL — and Adds 18M Users

NEAR Protocol continues to thrive in the cryptocurrency industry, with growing usage and the price surge of its native token (NEAR) over the last year.

Over the past week NEAR gained headlines amid the launch of Chain Signatures that allow NEAR accounts and smart contracts to send transactions to any blockchain — enhancing accessibility across multiple chains.

According to a Flipside report sent to Techopedia, NEAR Protocol experienced impressive growth in total value locked (TVL) and monthly transactions — 18m new users since the start of 2024.

A Flipside report shared with Techopedia revealed that Near Protocol’s ecosystem has been experiencing an array of successes since the start of 2024.

The protocol’s TVL has nearly tripled since the start of 2024, surging from $90.7 million to $324.6 million between January and early June, reaching an annual high of $366.1 million in mid-May.

Even though the protocol’s overall TVL levels have slightly dropped since May, they remain around three times higher than they were at the start of 2024.

Additionally, NEAR’s transaction volume has also witnessed uninterrupted, upward growth throughout the first six months of 2024 with the token’s month-over-month (MoM) transaction volume surging from 88.2 million transactions to 231.8 million between January and May.

NEAR Closing the Gap with BSC in New User Accumulation

The successes in the protocol’s TVL and MoM volumes were accompanied by an “explosive” new user growth, seeing how NEAR had managed to attract the second-most new users of any recorded chain in the first quarter of 2024, being surpassed by Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which has historically been dominating charts for several years now.

In the first quarter of 2024, NEAR saw 18 million new users and continued the positive momentum into the second quarter of 2024, standing behind BSC and Solana.

Flipside highlighted:

“In response to this massive user influx, the NEAR team added two more shards to the chain (for a total of 6 shards) in May 2024, increasing NEAR’s network capacity by ~50%. This upgrade was implemented live without any network downtime or disruption to user transactions, and additional shards can be added in perpetuity to meet the chain’s future growth.”

NEAR Protocol’s February launch of HERE Wallet’s Telegram integration, which lets users create Web3 accounts using their Telegram credentials, execute token transfers, and mine HOT tokens, has further accelerated the protocol’s successes. This helped it win the race in quarterly new wallet growth, surpassing BSC in the second quarter of 2024.

However, NEAR’s on-chain activity seems to be mostly driven by existing users rather than new wallets. New users made 55.4% of all transactions in February 2024 but only 7.4% in June.

Bridging Inflows Continue to Surpass Outflows

The volume of assets bridged onto NEAR exceeded bridging outflows for five out of the six months so far in 2024, with bridged inflow volume growing by 2.2 times between January and May and outflow volume falling by 12.8% during the same time.

In addition, the USD-dominated value of assets bridged to or from NEAR increased by 67.5% between January and May 2024, with four out of five NEAR’s top-bridged tokens being USD stablecoins.

The report highlighted that in terms of volume, USDC was the top-bridged token on NEAR followed by three other USD-based stablecoins and STNEAR (staked NEAR).

“The fact that STNEAR is the only non-stablecoin in the top 5 (ranked #3) reflects the growing trust and reliance on NEAR’s growing range of stablecoin-based activities, which are fundamental to the chain’s expanding DeFi landscape​.”

With stablecoins having a wide array of uses in decentralized finance protocols for activities such as yield farming, liquidity provision, and lending/borrowing, the heightened preference for stablecoins on NEAR could suggest that users are starting to leverage NEAR’s DeFi ecosystem to generate returns without having to expose themselves to the volatility that other cryptocurrencies are usually prone to.

NEAR Protocols Success Attributed to AI Integration

Speaking with Techopedia, Anndy Lian, an inter-governmental blockchain adviser, noted that NEAR’s latest add-on, the launch of Chain Signatures, may have been one of the reasons may also be attributed to NEAR’s focus on artificial intelligence (AI).

Flipside noticed that there had been a significant focus on AI-powered applications through the formation of the NEAR.AI R&D Lab and the NEAR Foundation’s recent 1 million NEAR token delegation to NEAT, a roll-up protocol designed for scaling AI applications on NEAR.

Lian highlighted that the fusion of AI and blockchain technologies holds promise for innovation, efficiency, and new economic models.

“AI can improve consensus algorithms, detect anomalies, and enhance security across blockchain networks. Privacy-focused AI techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs, can protect user data while maintaining transparency. AI-powered smart contracts can dynamically adapt based on real-world events or data.”

He added that, given NEAR’s recent surge, which was powered by AI, exploring AI use cases could be a strategic move to further enhance the protocol in the future.

The Bottom Line

NEAR Protocol is heading through 2024 with a wave of energy behind it.

The protocol’s TVL and monthly transaction volumes have seen impressive increases, and the integration of AI through the NEAR.AI R&D Lab and initiatives like Chain Signatures and HERE Wallet’s Telegram integration are helping further.

 

 

Source: https://www.techopedia.com/news/near-protocol-keeps-growing-in-tvl-and-adds-18m-users

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j