The crypto winter that started toward the end of last year doesn’t appear to be showing signs of slowing down. Digital assets like bitcoin lost more than 80 percent of their value while the overall crypto market cap shrunk from over $600 billion in January 2018 to less than $138 billion in December 2018.
Now, blockchain and cryptocurrency research firm Diar has released a report that reveals a sizeable drop in crypto trade volumes in January 2019 for popular crypto exchanges Binance, Gemini, OKEx and Coinbase.
Popular Exchanges Affected
The report from Diar notes that the plunge in trading volumes affected most crypto exchanges irrespective of their scale.
Malta-based Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by 24-hour trading volume, endured one of its worst periods in January 2019, where its popular BTC/USD market saw trading volumes fall by over 40 percent in January compared to December where it traded above $5 billion.
U.S.-based Coinbase, which has been on a downtrend since the beginning of last year for its BTC/USD market, saw trading volumes rally above $2 billion in November. However, while December saw figures recede by a small margin, the trading volumes on the exchange fell even further and sat firmly on the $1 billion mark in January.
It is worth noting that January’s trading volume levels for Coinbase are the lowest that the exchange has recorded since May 2017.
Hong Kong-based OKEx had seen its volumes for the BTC/USD market growing from October all through December before plummeting 30 percent from around $5.5 billion to below $4 billion.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ Gemini exchange also had an underwhelming year with trade volumes falling below $500 million.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao made an effort to calm fears in November, telling CNBC Africa that business was going well despite the crypto winter. According to Zhao, the exchange was trading one-tenth of the volumes it did in January 2018, but it was still way above what it was trading “two or three years ago.”
Despite the low trading volumes registered on popular crypto exchanges, the number of crypto ATMs installed continued on its ascent despite the market crash. Per data from Coin ATM Radar, there were 149 new Bitcoin ATMs installed across the world in January 2019. The U.S. had a whopping 107 new Bitcoin ATMs installed, while Canada and Spain came in second and third.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
