W
ill Bitcoin become mainstream currency in Singapore one day?
Despite its increased use and popularity in Singapore, Bitcoin has several characteristics that make it unsuitable for use as a transactional currency, say Hannah Yee-Fen Lim and Boh Wai Fong from NTU.
SINGAPORE: We see increasing interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the price of Bitcoin rallied and crashed, showing an almost ten-fold increase in price over a one-year period.
Bitcoin is to date the highest valued or most expensive cryptocurrency in the world having grown by 276 per cent in the last year alone, well ahead of others such as Ether used on the Ethereum network.
It peaked in April this year before crashing to almost half its value in June. Singapore investors, too, are keeping a sharp eye on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, with traditional institutions such as banks starting blockchain funds to give their high-net-worth investors the opportunity to invest in cryptocurrencies.
We even see traditional businesses like Kopitiam in Funan announcing that they will be accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. As of January, there were eight Bitcoin ATMs in Singapore, and about 51 businesses listed as accepting cryptocurrencies for payment, according to Statista.
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