Next year is set to be a bumper year for the crypto-currency industry, with the industry poised for even greater advancements.
So says Yande Nomvete, operations manager for Binance Africa, detailing some expectations for crypto-currencies in 2025.
This comes as the local crypto-currency industry experienced a profitable 2024 prompted by the US elections and the granting of licences by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority to various Crypto Asset Service Providers.
The industry also celebrated when Bitcoin, the world’s most popular digital currency, in November reached $100 000 (R1.7 million) per single coin.
In an email interview with ITWeb, Nomvete says in November, the crypto-currency market reached unprecedented heights, with total market capitalisation surging to a record $3.47 trillion.
This growth, he highlights, was fuelled by Bitcoin's rally to over $100 000 and significant institutional participation, evidenced by seven consecutive weeks of positive spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows totalling over $6.5 billion for the month.
Bitcoin ETFs have gained approval in markets such as the United States, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Australia, signalling broader acceptance of digital assets, Nomvete explains.
“The industry has emerged stronger, advancing in legitimacy, adoption, and utility. From regulatory breakthroughs to institutional milestones, this year marked the dawn of a new era.
“Looking ahead, the crypto industry is undoubtedly poised for even greater advancements. The momentum we’ve built over the past year, coupled with favourable tailwinds, positions us for an even stronger 2025. Institutions are increasingly eager to explore crypto’s potential, with many taking their first steps into the space.”
Binance is the world’s biggest blockchain and crypto-currency infrastructure provider. According to the crypto exchange, it started the year at just under 200-million users, and now has more than 240 million.
In 2024, US president-elect Donald Trump made crypto an important element of his campaign strategy, pledging to create a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” and to position the US as the “crypto capital of the planet”.
Commenting on expectations on Bitcoin when the US president-elect assumes office in January, Nomvete notes it “certainly helps” that Trump is a pro-crypto elect president, as this is likely to bring new developments in crypto legislation in 2025.
“This may help inform crypto legislation for other countries across the world. It’s not all related to Trump’s election, in general it is also about crypto cycles that last for about four years. Retail investors come in at the market’s peak and then get shaken out.
“There was a lot of regulatory scrutiny at the end of 2022 that contributed to the super negative sentiment then and you only had hardcore believers holding onto their tokens throughout that period. The sentiment started improving earlier this year. The prices started to rally, and the retail market reignited, which coincided with the Trump elections.”
Turning to the biggest trends witnessed this year, Nomvete comments that they’ve witnessed an increase in consumers using crypto-currency as a daily payment method locally.
“As much as people use crypto as an investment class, we are also really seeing it emerge as a payment method. No more so than in Africa. It makes perfect sense: if your home currency is the Zimbabwe dollar, say, and you’re working abroad, you’d have previously sent back hard currency via money movers like Western Union. But that’s expensive and you’re still at the mercy of fluctuating exchange rates.
“Now, people are making use of products like Binance Pay, which charge nothing to shift stablecoins – crypto tokens that are pegged to hard currencies like the dollar or euro – to family or friends back home.
“Access to finance is not as easy for a lot of people across the globe but particularly on the continent, for countries where local currencies are ‘volatile and mercurial’, using crypto is a way to hedge against inflation.
“Dollar shortages in the traditional banking system impact people in those countries, so being able to access the dollar by being on the platform is something that we’re seeing significant adoption of the utility of crypto is a powerful argument for continued demand,” she concludes.
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