- Premium Content It takes our newsroom weeks - if not months - to investigate and produce stories for our premium content. You can’t find them anywhere else.
Chong Xin Wei · · 4 min readSingapore bitcoin rush defies MAS warnings
Chloe Lim co-reported this story.
Bitcoin went from niche investment to mainstream asset in 2024.
The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency more than doubled last year, driven by factors such as the introduction of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) investing in bitcoin and Donald Trump’s US election win.
Chang Wei Liang, a foreign exchange (FX) and credit strategist at DBS, noted that 11 spot bitcoin ETFs were approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust grew to more than US$50 billion in assets in just 11 months, breaking records with no other ETF having a better launch, Bloomberg indicated.
US president-elect Donald Trump / Photo credit: mark reinstein / Shutterstock
Another catalyst for bitcoin’s rally was an endorsement from US president-elect Trump. The asset soared above US$100,000 for the first time on December 5, after he won the presidential election in November.
Trump has pledged to make the world’s largest economy the “crypto capital of the planet,” with plans to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.
“Unprecedented” rise
The trading volume of bitcoin ETFs in Singapore increased by over 200% in November compared to October in 2024, according to Gavin Chia, CEO of investment platform Moomoo. More than 50% of the platform’s crypto traders in 2024 were Singaporeans.
Jason Fu, deputy head of global markets at Phillip Securities, noted that there was “a substantial increase in trading interest” in the asset among the company’s clients since its launch in January 2024.
“By the end of last year, our clients’ assets under custody (AUC) in bitcoin ETFs had grown to nearly 3% of the overall AUC across all ETFs, with interest evident across all age groups,” he says.
Last year’s bitcoin rally had “greater participation” from institutions and high-net-worth individuals compared to previous cycles, according to Lim Wee Kian, chief executive of DBS Digital Exchange.
Bitcoin’s rise in the past year was “unprecedented,” dwarfing even 2021’s bull market for crypto, according to Coinhako co-founder Liu Yusho.
The crypto exchange saw 500% more retail users trading after the breakout in November and December relative to October 2024. Also, retail spot volumes surged by 320% last year from 2023.
A golden era?
Stay ahead in Asia’s tech landscape
This is premium content. Subscribe to read the full story.
Some say the next two years will be a “golden era” for the mainstream adoption of digital assets in the city-state.
We know this is not ideal. ⌛ Sign up in 20 seconds. Cancel anytime.
Our subscriber community includes professionals from these companies:
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
