Despite being home to the NYSE and NASDAQ, which comfortably lead the rest of the planet in terms of exchange volumes, the U.S. has conceded its initial crypto exchange leadership position to Asia.<\/p>\n
While U.S. exchanges\u2014such as\u00a0Poloniex\u2014<\/a>once recorded the highest volumes, a new breed of hard-driving Asian exchanges\u2014such as Binance<\/a> and Huobi\u2014now lead the pack, with Binance solely responsible for more than half of all crypto exchange volumes.<\/p>\n Several governments have introduced regulations to control the spread and use of \u2018strange' digital currencies which are not centralized or controlled by a particular body. With some of these regulations being stricter in some countries than others, is the United States losing crypto exchange volume due to strict regulations, or are other factors at play?<\/p>\n Despite being a relatively crypto-friendly jurisdiction, the United States is by no means a laissez-faire regulatory area for crypto exchanges, with several regulators involved at different levels of crypto regulation and enforcement\u2014including the SEC, CFTC and IRS.<\/p>\n This has spooked several crypto exchanges and moved them to focus their business expansion efforts outside the U.S.<\/p>\n Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, for example, stated last year that Binance was not looking at drawing large user numbers from the U.S. anytime soon, adding that U.S.-based exchanges Gemini<\/a> and Coinbase could figure that out.<\/p>\n A school of thought led by Blocktown Capital Managing Director, James Todaro<\/a>, believes that this is indicative of a macro effect on crypto innovation by American regulations.<\/p>\n For those who disagree the US is falling behind in crypto bc of regulations, think about this:<\/p>\n Just 2 yrs ago, US exchanges accounted for ~65% trade volume. Today it\u2019s <20%.<\/p>\n The US-based NYSE & NASDAQ are the world\u2019s largest exchanges. <\/p>\n The US lost this dominance in crypto. pic.twitter.com\/Hi7r2MOCmX<\/a><\/p>\n — James Todaro (@JamesTodaroMD) April 1, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nU.S. Crypto Regulatory Environment<\/h2>\n
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