THE FIGHT'S OVER. What fight? Where? Was it on pay-for-view? No, not a bloody (well, maybe for some) beating but rather the crypto exchanges fighting the dreaded regulators. The "big" exchanges are actually welcoming varied forms of regulation because that is the only way to attract bigger, accredited and institutional investors. Of course many smaller exchanges WILL fall by the wayside since regulations increase costs and, frankly, become a pain in the.........backside. But, the larger exchanges that adjust and conform will see huge influxes of trading.
Why? Well, there are so many funds, institutions, commodity pools, etc that are regulated and are eager (oh yes they are) to allocate into cryptos but can't until the rules become more clear. Things are changing and the shakeout of weaker, less capitalized and shady(??) operators worldwide is in progress. Never thought I would say it, but thanks regulators (Swiss, Gibraltar, Canada, Japan, etc) and hurry up U.S.
(Bill Taylor/Managing Editor)
"When the top Japanese cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer expanded to the United States last November, its timing could hardly have been better. Led by bitcoin, digital assets were enjoying a historic bull run.
Almost immediately, despite bitcoin initially being the only asset available to buy and sell, trading volumes on bitFlyer's U.S. exchange shot up to more than $1 million a day.
BitFlyer, which in early 2018 expanded to Europe as well, has caught a wave partly of its own making. Between $20 billion and $30 billion worth of digital assets now routinely change hands every day, and sometimes as much as twice that amount, an exponential increase from this time last year. In February 2017, daily trading volumes across all exchanges were often less than $150 million, according to CoinMarketCap.
In part, the surge can be explained by the inflated values of some digital assets. Another reason is the influx of capital not only from new retail investors — including Japan's much-ballyhooed metaphorical Mrs. Watanabe — but from institutional clients bitFlyer actively seeks to attract.
Attracting institutional capital means accepting government regulation, however. Gradually, some digital-currency businesses are learning to play by the rules in order to get ahead. As other burgeoning industries have done before them, the exchanges are now allowing for checks and controls to develop that banks and other institutions need to normalize digital assets and currencies..."
Full Story at AmericanBanker.com