The last three months in the United Kingdom’s bitcoin market has been no less than amazing, indicated Skew.
The London-based data analytics portal revealed that the region developed a strong bitcoin trading traffic in the last 120 days. It shared a graph across its social media channels, reflecting upon the growing presence of traders in the UK’s crypto climate.
Per the chart, traders on BitMex were contributing approximately $65 million worth of XBT/USD trading volume every day over the past three months. The trading rate was higher between 1000 GMT to 1600 GMT, reaching up to $100 million ahead of the mainstream market’s closing hours.
Apparently you can't build a crypto trading business in the UK because all the traders are in the US and Asia.
👇 average volume – in mln$ – on Bitmex xbtusd per hour of the day – UK time (last 120d)
Hard to disrupt the geographical location of London! pic.twitter.com/ipyhUzcINC
— skew (@skewdotcom) February 28, 2019
Trading volume indicates the number of trades taking place across an exchange. BitMex, which lists both spot and derivative bitcoin instruments, became a central point for Skew to understand a market-wide bitcoin trading sentiment.
London a Crucial Geographical Location
Skew noted that London was a crucial geographical location to learn about the bitcoin volume trend. The late Asian trading hours easily melts into the GMT early session, and the late GMT trading hours also touches upon the US market open. Skew sarcastically pointed out that the US and Asia had more traders than the UK. But, it did not entirely mean that the region was not an attractive place to build a crypto trading business.
It very much explains why average trading volume around 1600 GMT was always higher than the rest of the day. That’s 11 am in New York, the global financial hub sniffing its second round of coffee. That’s also 9:30 am in Mumbai, home to one of Asia’s leading stock markets.
“Hard to disrupt the geographical location of London,” Skew commented.
Big Crypto Firms Entering the UK
The location could be one of the many reasons why some of the world’s leading crypto service firms have entered the UK recently. In March 2018, US-based Coinbase opened an office in London to penetrate the local and European crypto market. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume and revenue, also expanded into the UK by launching Binance Jersey. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao later said that they were registering more customers than ever from a region.
“Binance.je is overwhelmed with registrations. There is a backlog of KYC (Know Your Customer) verifications already. More resources are allocated to reduce it. In the meantime, we appreciate your understanding and patience. Just crazy! One thing we do ‘well’ is underestimating ourselves, and the market.”
https://t.co/THxfdd3RD2 is overwhelmed with registrations. There is a backlog of KYC verifications already. More resources are allocated to reduce it. In the mean time, we appreciate your understanding and patience. The registration prize is FIFO based, no worries. Just crazy!
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) January 17, 2019
2019 also brought news of more expansions. US crypto exchange Kraken acquired Crypto Facilities, a London-based crypto futures platform, for a “nine-figure” sum.
Overall, the UK, with its lighthouse view of the world’s emerging crypto markets, is giving entrepreneurs a strategical advantage. Skew’s trading volume analysis reflects an opportunity for expansion, especially when the growth of crypto markets have been extinguished by the patchwork regulatory climate of the US market.