Despite the constant headlines about “regulation-by-enforcement” from US politicians, North America remains the largest cryptocurrency market in the world. According to a Chainalysis report, global crypto transactions are predicted to reach $1.2 trillion by 2023, with over $1 trillion of that activity originating in the United States.
This is the same nation whose securities regulator sued Binance, Coinbase, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, Ex-Celsius, and Alex Mashinsky for fraudulent conduct by their customers.
However, these developments did not cause a great migration to DeFi. In fact, North America’s usage of DeFi protocols slumped significantly since August 2022, and the price has since remained relatively flat. Chainalysis attributes this to the regulatory uncertainty surrounding DeFi products.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission can also charge Opyn, ZeroEx, Deridex, and others for allegedly operating unregistered trading platforms.
FTX’s bankruptcy and the collapse of banks such as Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature had little impact on retail users’ overall crypto trading activity. Chainalysis said institutions have been the primary driver of the overall decline in activity since 2022.
Institutions began to invest again in June 2023, causing on-chain activity to rise. North America’s crypto market is more driven by institutional activity than any other region, with 76.9% of transaction volume driven by transfers of $1 million or more.
The race to create a bitcoin ETF is still strong, and could further cement North America as the main center for crypto participation. However, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s application process for ETFs, including those from BlackRock, Valkyrie, 21Shares, and Ark Invest, has been consistently late.
Stablecoins, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other coins, are the second-most widely-used type of crypto asset. This is why Congress introduced the Payment Stablecoins Act in July 2022, and the most significant progress was made in March 2023.
The bill has advanced to the floor vote of the House of Representatives, though the actual vote hasn’t been scheduled yet. It is important to note that it may take some time for the US to catch up.
