London
Cryptocurrency trading volumes soared by 17% last month in the wake of Tesla’s $1.5 billion bitcoin bet, with larger exchanges taking a growing share of the overall volumes, data showed.
Trading volumes jumped to $2.7 trillion in February, with volumes at major exchanges jumping over 35% to $2.4 trillion, researcher CryptoCompare said.
Smaller exchanges saw volumes slump by 36% to $381 billion, suggesting growing consolidation of trading at larger venues.
The embrace of cryptocurrencies by the likes of Tesla Inc and Mastercard drove bitcoin to a record high of $58,354 and a $1 trillion market capitalisation last month.
Growing interest from bigger investors has also added fuel to the cryptocurrency’s rally.
Bitcoin, whose history of wild price swings has long-hampered its use for commerce, has since slumped around 20% from its peak and was last trading at around $47,000.
Major exchange Binance saw the biggest trading volume in February of $761 billion.—Agencies
