The Central Bank is Simulating Crypto Real-World Usage to Assist in Formulating...

According to a recent study done by CoinGecko, Coinbase has maintained its position as the leading centralized crypto exchange (CEX) in the United States commanding a substantial market share of 76.2% as of March 2023.

Coinbase is the dominant player among centralized cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States of America with a 76.2% average market share as of March 2023

3 out of every 4 U.S. crypto investors use @coinbase.

A report by @coingecko pic.twitter.com/HW0Yh2ExvV

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) April 20, 2023

As per the data provided by CoinGecko, Binance.US and Crypto.com trail behind Coinbase as the second and third most dominant centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs).

Since March 2022, as per the findings, Coinbase has consistently been the most dominant CEX in the United States in spite of turmoil in the market and the heightened regulatory scrutiny of authorities following the collapse of FTX in November 2022.

Over the course of the last 12 months, Coinbase’s market share in the United States ranged from a low of 74% in April 2022 to a high of 78.1% in August 2022, according to the report’s data.  Coinbase has recorded an average market share of 76.3%, which means that approximately three out of every four American crypto investors use Coinbase.

Binance.US is second among the dominant CEXs in the US market with 8.3% market share. Between March and May 2022, Binance.US witnessed a gradual increase in its market share, growing from roughly 6% to over 7% by July 2022. Since then, Binance.US has continued to expand its dominance in the U.S. market consistently increasing its market share to over 8%, except for a brief setback recorded in January 2023.

Crypto.com is positioned as the third most dominant CEX in the United States market although its dominance rate has reduced from 8.8% recorded in March 2022 to 6% in March 2023, indicating a decline.

Kraken and Gemini round up the top five largest CEXs in the last 12 months each sharing almost an equal portion of the remaining 10% market share.

Coinbase has come under pressure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent months after the commission notified the firm it would be commencing a case against it. According to CoinGecko, this notice indicated that the SEC had made a preliminary determination to recommend an enforcement action against the exchange.

The notice from the SEC suggests that the forthcoming enforcement action is likely to focus on parts of Coinbase’s primary trading platform, including Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Wallet. This development could potentially impact Coinbase’s market share in the United States.

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Zambia expects to complete tests that simulate real-world cryptocurrency usage by the end of June 2023 on its way to establishing regulations that balance citizens’ safety with innovation, the Zambian Minister for Science and Technology Minister, Felix Mutati, has said.

Speaking to Reuters, Mutati also indicated that Zambia requires digital infrastructure, including digital identities, before cryptocurrencies can be introduced.

“Our main goal in the area of cryptocurrency is to strike a balance between innovation in terms of digital payments … against citizens’ safety, particularly given that cryptocurrency is very volatile,” Mutati said. “The central bank is simulating that to see what would happen in the real world. The results will assist us (in) the formulation of the regulation.”

In February 2023, the Science and Technology Minister revealed that the country, through the Security Exchange Commission and Bank of Zambia, were already testing technology to enable regulation of cryptocurrency in the country.

The lack of regulation has created a confusing environment for businesses and other operators in the country over the years.

In 2019, the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) suggested that there was need to revise the BoZ Act, since the crypto market developed well after the Act was instituted. Back then, the bank had put out a cautionary statement saying that ‘cryptocurrencies like bitcoin aren’t legal tender.’

In the same vein, the SEC said it had no jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

“The fact of the matter is that, currently, these products/assets are not regulated by the Commission unless they meet the definition of a security as defined by the Act and this, as indicated, will be considered on a case by case basis,” said Philip Chitalu, the CEO of the Securities and Exchange Commision of Zambia.

Zambia is also reportedly exploring the pros and cons of a Central Bank Digital Currency and the exploration was supposed to be complete in Q4 2022.

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