This past weekend South African bitcoin trading saw the establishment of a new all-time high for trading volume, in addition to new price highs. The rise in trading volume further evidences the significant growth that South Africa’s bitcoin markets have enjoyed this year.
Also Read: South Africa to Take “Balanced Approach” to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Regulations
Major Exchange Luno Reporting Record Trading Volume of Approximately R128m (97m USD) This Past Weekend
South Africa’s bitcoin markets experienced a giddy weekend, with major exchange Luno reporting record trading volume of approximately R128m (97m USD) between Friday and Sunday.
Farzam Ehsani of RMB has attributed the successful implementation of segregated witness to the surge of South African bitcoin trading in a recent interview with Techcentral. “There was a lot of disunity in the bitcoin community leading up to the fork. Given the decentralized nature of blockchains and the difficulty in making protocol upgrades, many people divested from bitcoin not knowing how the fork would pan out. But the fork went relatively smoothly and there is now more clarity on how bitcoin and bitcoin cash (the forked blockchain) plan to scale. This clarity has drawn people back into the cryptocurrency, and as there’s a limited supply of bitcoin, the price is going up.”
The surge in South African bitcoin trading has resulted in pressure being placed on regulators to develop a clear regulatory framework pertaining to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In response, the government announced that will initiate testing of a ‘regulatory sandbox’ working exclusively with blockchain solutions provider, Bankymoon.
“It’s Not Just This Funny Thing That Geeks Are Playing With… Mainstream Pundits Are Making Predictions and Mainstream Institutional Investors Are Looking at It” – Lorein Gamaroff, Bankymoon CEO
Lorein Gamaroff, CEO of Bankymoon, believes that bitcoin is entering a significant phase of its trajectory towards mainstream adoption. “It’s not just this funny thing that geeks are playing with. People outside the system are looking at it seriously and trying to figure out how it works and there’s all this new money coming into the system. Mainstream pundits are making predictions and mainstream institutional investors are looking at it. It has got over that early stage when people thought it was all about drug dealers and money launderers.”
Gamaroff believes the bitcoin markets are overall highly bullish, owing to renewed investor confidence in the face of the scaling debate resolution. “If you’re in bitcoin, you should be bullish. Things that have stopped the rally in the past are not having that effect anymore. Sentiment is positive and there’s nothing fundamentally right now that looks threatening… It’s not impossible to see the price doubling by the end of the year.”
Do you think that South Africa will come to comprise a dominant market within the bitcoin ecosystem? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Luno
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