Seeking Alpha 2023-05-13 18:28:00

Centralized crypto exchanges' trading volume plunges 40% in April, data show

Spot trading volume on some of the largest centralized cryptocurrency exchanges plummeted 40.2% to $621B in April from a month ago, according to a recent report by crypto data provider CCData, marking the lowest figure since December. What contributed to the slump? The fallout from several bank failures since March as well as looming recession threats, the report said, drove declining volumes across Coinbase Global ( NASDAQ: COIN ), Binance, Binance.US, OKX, Upbit and Kraken. That's on top of regulatory concerns that briefly had Coinbase ( COIN ), in particular, considering exiting the U.S. But CEO Brian Armstrong dialed back on that suggestion less than a month later, saying “we’re always going to have a U.S. presence ... But the U.S. is a little bit behind right now.” Even so, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and ethereum ( ETH-USD ), which together account for roughly 65% of the global crypto market cap, rose, albeit modestly, during the month and extended their notable year-to-date gains. Spot trading volume at the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, dropped 48.1% to $287B in April, representing its second-lowest monthly trading volume since 2021, CCData highlighted. That pulled its market share down to 46.3% -- the lowest since October. In recent months, Changpeng Zhao's Binance has been plagued with a number of negative developments, having more recently suffered from bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) withdrawal issues . Nonetheless, Binance remained the dominant exchange in the crypto space by a wide margin, CCData said. The second and third largest exchanges -- Coinbase ( COIN ) and OKX -- accounted for only 5.60% and 5.39%, respectively, of the total spot trading market. The report defines spot volumes as "trading volumes on crypto assets with immediate delivery." More on the Crypto Market Bitcoin: Sell The Market (Technical Analysis) Bitcoin May Get Back Above $32,000 In The Rebellion Against The U.S. Dollar Ethereum: The Frog Meme Moment Ethereum's Hard Fork Draws More Stakers But Raises Regulatory Stakes