Last month, spot trading volumes on centralized cryptocurrency trading platforms rose 16.4% to $575 billion, the first trading volume increase seen in three months. Trading volumes, however, remain at historically low levels, recording the lowest quarterly volumes since Q4 of 2019.

The CEO of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, Larry Fink, has projected that Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency space have the potential to revolutionize the financial system.

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA) has directed Saxo Bank, a global fintech firm, to divest its crypto asset holdings, citing the bank's cryptocurrency trading as falling outside the “legal business area of financial institutions.”

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Crypto Spot Trading Volumes Surge 16.4% in June
• BlackRock CEO Sees Potential for Bitcoin and Crypto to Change the Financial System
• Danish Regulator Orders Saxo Bank to Sell Its Crypto Assets
• Binance's Spot & Derivatives Market Share Drops to Multi-Month Low 

Crypto Spot Trading Volumes Surge 16.4% in June

Last month, spot trading volumes on centralized cryptocurrency trading platforms rose 16.4% to $575 billion, the first trading volume increase seen in three months. Trading volumes, however, remain at historically low levels, recording the lowest quarterly volumes since Q4 of 2019.

CCData’s latest Exchange Review report details that the combined spot and derivatives trading volumes on centralized exchanges rose 14.2% to $2.7 trillion in June.

The increase in trading volumes came amid rising volatility over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuits against leading cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Coinbase and amid a renewed positive outlook in the space triggered by the filing of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by financial behemoths including BlackRock and Fidelity.

As of July 4, Coinbase was leading in terms of Bitcoin trading volumes among exchanges registered in the US with a 61% market share.

Binance’s spot trading market share notably fell for a fourth consecutive month to 41.6% in June, marking its lowest level since August 2022.

BlackRock CEO Sees Potential for Bitcoin and Crypto to Change the Financial System

The CEO of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, Larry Fink, has projected that Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency space have the potential to revolutionize the financial system.

In an interview, Fink,  nearly a $10 trillion asset manager, noted the firm believes that this could be achieved through the tokenization of assets and securities. Fink had earlier expressed reservations about cryptocurrency, suggesting its proponents largely exploited it for unlawful activities.

Fink further emphasized Bitcoin’s role as an international inflation-hedging asset, saying:

“Instead of investing in gold as a hedge against inflation, a hedge against the onerous problems of any one country, or the devaluation of your currency whatever country you’re in – let’s be clear, bitcoin is an international asset, it’s not based on any one currency and so it can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative.”

BlackRock’s iShares unit filed for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with the SEC on June 16. The firm has a near perfect track record of getting ETFs approved by the regulator.

Danish Regulator Orders Saxo Bank to Sell Its Crypto Assets

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA) has directed Saxo Bank, a global fintech firm, to divest its crypto asset holdings, citing the bank's cryptocurrency trading as falling outside the “legal business area of financial institutions.”

The move won’t affect Saxo Bank’s cryptocurrency offerings, with the bank currently allowing its customers to trade a number of cryptocurrency products through its platform. The firm offers several cryptocurrency-linked exchange-traded funds and notes.

Saxo Bank also has its own portfolio of digital assets held as a hedge to offset the market risk associated with the bank’s cryptocurrency products, according to the DFSA. The regulator said that trading digital assets does not appear to be covered by the legal business area of financial institutions in the country.

The DFSA also referred to Europe's impending Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations, which are expected to be fully implemented by December 2024. The regulator underscored that until then, the crypto sector remains unregulated.

Binance's Spot & Derivatives Market Share Drops to Multi-Month Low

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has seen it’s market dominance fall, with its share of spot trading dropping to 41.6% in June, a low that hasn’t been seen since August 2022 and that comes on its fourth consecutive monthly decrease.

A similar trend is observed in the derivatives market, with Binance's share receding for the fourth successive month to 57.4%. Binance is, nevertheless, dominating as the largest derivatives trading platform, registering volumes of $1.21 trillion, with the second-ranked exchange OKX registering $416 billion volumes in June.

Dig deeper into the world of cryptocurrency trading with CCData’s latest Exchange Review report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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