Despite the Impact of COVID-19 on the Economy, Cryptocurrency Trading Volumes Still Increasing.

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The cryptocurrency trading volumes on most africa exchanges had recorded new all-time-high despite a severe economic contraction since the global COVID-19 pandemic.

This could be attributed to the move towards a cashless payment system because of the research confirming that the coronavirus can be transferred across surfaces. This shows that people now favorite digital money.

Diutocoinnews previously reported that the Sub-Saharan Africa Bitcoin trades on peer-to-peer exchanges including Paxful, Luno and Localbitcoins, recorded new highs breaking the December 2017 bull market run that saw bitcoin reach $20,000.

Luno recorded a 50 percent increase in its number of active users month-on-month. Luno has over 3 million users across 40 countries worldwide.

Marius Reitz, GM for Africa at Luno, says, “This indicates continued cryptocurrency investment by existing holders and entirely new investors entering cryptocurrencies for the first time.”

Reitz adds that a recent client survey, undertaken during the pandemic, also highlighted 42% of Luno wallet holders plan to buy more and 41% plan to trade in the next six months.

“Over 4,000 customers responded to our survey. They indicated that they are planning to increase their crypto holdings or trade in the next six months, while less than 6% plan to sell.

Interestingly, 70% of inactive customers want to automatically invest a fixed amount in cryptocurrencies, indicating that they are moving closer to traditional investment models,” he says.

On the part of regulatory compliance for the cryptocurrency space, South Africa’s top financial regulators and the country’s apex bank—South African Reserve Bank, collectively issued a policy paper with 30 recommendations for the regulation of cryptocurrency and related service providers.

Additionally, the South Africa’s draft regulatory papers is currently open for public comment until 15 May 2020.

“Luno welcomes regulation as it will provide comfort to consumers and professional service providers such as banks and auditing firms that the company they are dealing with is held to defined regulatory standards.

Regulation in the industry can have a very positive impact. Imposing regulations in South Africa and across the world will enhance general trust in and stability of this market.

It will likely result in even more talent and investment capital flowing into the industry, unlocking more business models and bringing more advanced products to market,” says Reitz.

These continued development in African owned cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency community will help speed up a seamless co-operation with regulators for faster adoption.