Despite the looming market volatility, DBS, a Singapore-based shopper financial institution, reported optimistic figures in the number of market participants and the quantity of cryptocurrency held on its digital trade.
While the market is frequently associated with declining worth and volatility, DBS’s figures show that both the number of market participants and the amount parked in the DBS digital trade (DDEx) are increasing positively.
According to reports, DBS observed an 80% year-on-year increase in the number of Bitcoin trades on the DDEx in 2022 while also observing a 65% increase in Ethereum trades.
DBS’s digital asset custody solution more than doubled the amount of Bitcoin held during this period and increased the amount of Ethereum held by more than 60%.
This is due to the bank doubling its DDEx buyer base by 2022, which includes nearly 1,200 registered trade individuals as of 31 December last year.
Getting through the storm
The volatility of cryptocurrency was the worst-kept secret of the previous year, with customers all over the world feeling the total pressure of ‘capital in danger’ throughout 2022, heightened by the astonishing collapse of FTX.
However, these DBS figures appear to indicate that market volatility has had little impact on the arrogance of Singapore buyers, who have become increasingly interested in the regulated and safe buying and selling environment DBS provides.
While these actions demonstrated DDEx’s dependability, they also revealed the bank’s active participation in best market practices. As a result, the trade does not keep any of its custodial property but instead places all digital property individually inside institutional-grade cold wallets.
In addition, the financial institution conducts coin purity checks on all digital assets in its custody to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering & know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.
DDEx enhancement
“Since our inception in 2020, we’ve taken a cautious and measured approach to develop our digital asset ecosystem, choosing to keep up with the market as it matures and customers become more refined,” explains Lionel Lim, CEO of the DDEx.
Lim believes the market has “decidedly shifted its focus in the direction of belief and stability, particularly in the aftermath of some scandals that have rocked the trade.”
“As a regulated digital trade backed by the DBS Group,” he continues, “we provide many distinct benefits that buyers have come to recognize as they seek trustworthy gateways to the digital asset economic system.”
DDEx continues to be a members-only trade that serves company and institutional buyers, accredited buyers, and household workplaces, who are typically more capable of managing market risks.
As a result, DBS did not see any significant selloffs in 2022, with DDEx observing a net-buy position for its prospects throughout the year’s second half.
Commenting on opportunities in the security token providing (STO) space, Lim says that in 2022, the financial institution saw “increased curiosity from our enterprise purchasers and was actively working in the direction of converting quite a few inquiries into STOs.”
