Crypto Volumes Climb First Time in 3 Months amid TradFi Push for Spot BTC ETF

The combined value of spot and derivatives trading volumes on centralized exchanges (CEXs) jumped 14.2% for the first time in three months, reaching $2.71 trillion in June. The bullish trend came amidst a new wave of applications for spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by institutional investors.

The latest interest follows an application by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, in mid-June. The increase in volatility that trailed the US Securities and Exchange’s (SEC) crackdown on Binance and Coinbase pushed up the volumes, according to the latest report by digital asset data provider, CCData.

'Historic' Lows despite Boom in June

Giving a breakdown of the figures, CCData noted that spot trading volume during the recent month jumped 16.4% to $575 billion, with derivatives volume touching $2.12 trillion, which is an increase of 13.7%.

In addition, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the biggest derivatives marketplace in the world, saw the total derivatives volume traded on its platform increase 23.6% to $48.3 billion. CCData pointed out that institutional investors particularly flocked into BTC futures, with trading in the derivative contract escalating 28.6% to $37.9 billion, which is the highest volume traded on CME since November 2021.

However, despite the positive performance last month, spot trading volumes on CEXs remain at 'historically low levels’ as the value sank to a level not seen since the fourth quarter of 2019. Similarly, the market share of derivatives trading on CEXs plummeted for the first time in four months. The market descended ever so slightly to 78.7% last month, declining from a peak of 79.1% achieved earlier in May.

“Binance remains the largest venue for derivatives trading in crypto, recording $1.21 trillion in volumes,” CCData noted. “However, the exchange’s market share has declined for the fourth consecutive month, falling to 56.8% in June, its lowest market share since October 2022.”

On the contrary, OKX, the second-largest digital asset derivatives trading platform, saw its trading volumes skyrocket by 44.9% to $416 billion last month, CCData noted. The exchange now handles 19.5% of derivatives trading on CEXs, which is its highest market share since April last year.

Court Penalizes Coinseed and Its Founder

In a separate development, a New York judge yesterday (Wednesday) ordered crypto trading platform Coinseed and its former CEO, Delgerdalai Davaasambuu, to cough up roughly $424,000. The amount includes payments for the court’s civil monetary penalty and return of illicit profits plus interest.

The SEC, which sued Coinseed in 2021 over its alleged unregistered sale of the ‘CSD’ tokens between 2017 and 2018, secured the order from Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the Southern District Court in New York. The federal securities regulator in its lawsuit had accused Coinseed and two of its top executives of defrauding victims of about $1 million.

In September 2021, prosecutors in New York secured a court order to shut down the operations of Coinseed. They also obtained a money judgment of $3 million against the company and its Founder.

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