Popular San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has seen its trading volume plummet 83% this year, while top crypto exchanges outside of the US, Binance and OKEx, have seen their volumes surge.
According to a report published by cryptoasset research firm Diar, citing data from CoinApi, over half of all cryptocurrency trading volume “revolves around the majors, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.”
While Coinbase lets users trade most of these cryptos, the exception being XRP, its volume has plummeted, along with that of Bitstamp and Kraken, two well-known exchanges. The plunge, per the report, can be attributed to a decline in USD-denominated cryptocurrency trading.
While these exchanges have suffered, Binance and OKEx, two exchanges planning to set up operations in Malta, have been growing. The report reads:
Traded volumes on Coinbase, Bitstamp and Kraken have seen steep declines. Meanwhile, token exchanges outside the US, that have lax regulator scrutiny, are now seeing an increase in traded volume with the majors.
Its data suggests that in July Coinbase saw a trading volume of about $4 billion, down from $21 billion in January. Similarly, Bitstamp’s volume plummeted from about $8.5 billion to about $2 billion in July.
Meanwhile, Binance saw its volume go from roughly $15 billion in January to about $9 billion in June before jumping to $12 billion in July. OKEx notably went from about $5 billion in the beginning of the year, to a record $5.5 billion in July. This, after recovering from about $2.6 billion in April.
Coinbase’s decline may be attributed to various factors, with its declining popularity being one of them. As reported, the exchange saw its traffic plunge from 126 billion monthly visits in January, to about 28 million in June.
As some analysts have pointed out, neither Coinbase nor Bitstamp, the exchanges that endured the largest volume decline, trade in the controversial cryptocurrency Tether (USDT), often believed to be used to manipulate bitcoin’s price. As covered, study conducted by University of Texas professor John Griffin suggested USDT tokens were used to manipulate the cryptocurrency’s price last year, helping it surge to nearly $20,000.
Notably, analysts from New York-based global asset management firm Sanford C. Bernstein found that, last year, Coinbase managed to get nearly 50% of the $1.8 billion exchanges generated in crypto trading revenue. This year, the revenue is expected to double to $4 billion, although Coinbase may no longer be in the lead.
As Diar pointed out, Coinbase has been increasingly moving to add various altcoins to its platform. Earlier this year it announced it was considering five cryptocurrencies: Cardano (ADA), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Zcash (ZEC), and 0x (ZRX).
