Digital currency has disrupted the way money is perceived by the masses, and future of money is a click on your mobile, giving you the option to make payments for buying or selling goods digitally and in multiple currencies. Worldwide, nations are currently grappling with their national currency, proposed central bank digital currency, and cryptocurrency. Are you future-ready? if not, it’s time you get to the basics.
What is cryptocurrency?
A cryptocurrency, or crypto, is a digital currency that can be used to buy goods and services but uses an online ledger. The most prominent cryptocurrency worldwide is Bitcoin (BTC) which has a market capitalisation of over $821 billion; Ethereum (ETH) at $353 billion and Tether (USDT) at $68 billion.
Bitcoin hit $61,795.40 for the first time in six months on Friday, as hopes grew that US regulators would allow a futures-based Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), a move likely to open the path to wider investment in digital assets.
Cryptocurrency investors have been awaiting approval for the first US ETF for bitcoin, with bets on such a move fuelling its recent rally. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency rose 4.5 per cent to its highest level since April 17 and was last at $59,290. It has risen by more than half since September 20 and closing in on its record high of $64,895 hit.
UAE government backs
The popularity of cryptocurrency has hit the Mena region too as digital assets have gained momentum in Dubai with the government permitting the free zones to conduct crypto-related business activities in the UAE. The nation is poised to be a global hub for cryptocurrency as market capitalisation hits $1.4 trillion up 86 per cent year to date.
Recently, MidChains, the virtual asset trading platform based in Abu Dhabi and part of Hub71’s cohort, also completed its first trades across all its listed assets as a fully regulated and supervised trading platform acting under the Financial Services Regulatory Authority’s (FSRA) regulatory framework of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
MidChains has confirmed trades across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash and is the first regulated platform in the UAE to have conducted trades across all these virtual assets on September 1. MidChains’ current listed crypto assets for trading make up more than 65 per cent of the global market cap of the cryptocurrency market. MidChains is backed by notable regional and international investors, including Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), Miami International Holdings, and DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture platform. MidChains is the first and only fully-regulated virtual asset trading platform to receive sovereign wealth fund backing in the region.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Finance World staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)