|
|
These so-called alternative (or alt) coins are staying afloat and even flourishing thanks to the hundreds of exchanges worldwide offering investors attractive terms to trade and capitalize on the renewal of risk taking in crypto. Malta-based giant Binance, for instance, has also been issuing fresh coins on its network. While the market for initial coin offerings is a tiny fraction of what it was in 2018, it’s still alive. Last year, companies raised $3.26 billion through various types of coin sales, according to tracker CoinSchedule.
The coronavirus epidemic in China may actually be helping to fuel risk-taking rather than haven buying, said Omer Ozden, chief executive officer of RockTree Capital, a Beijing-based investment advisory firm and merchant bank.
“Quarantines have kept millions of people isolated and forced digital-asset traders and investors to stay at home and trade digital assets from their mobile devices,” Ozden said. “This has led more traditional investors to look at digital assets as a viable diversification in their portfolio against the continued downward pressure in the region’s markets.”
Ozden expects an uptick in ICOs, partly the result of the recent rise in alt-coin prices, and because this is a transition year for Bitcoin, with rewards the network pays to the so-called mining pools that support it to be cut in what’s become known as the halvening.
Full article on Bloomberg (subscription required)