Okcoin reports a 210% increase in institutional stablecoin purchases and rising demand for Bitcoin DeFi services amid rising inflation

Q1 activity on Okcoin suggests that institutions are increasingly turning to stablecoin investing and decentralized financial services for bitcoin holdings

SAN FRANCISCO, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Okcoin, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing cryptocurrency platforms, reported today that stablecoins accounted for 34% of institutional trading volume on Okcoin in Q1 2022, a 25% increase from Q4 2021 and an increase of 210% from Q4 2021 equals Q1 2021. Institutions’ investments in Okcoin in Q1 also showed a growing interest in diversifying their bitcoin operations, with purchases of Stacks (STX) — an asset offering BTC loans/ lending, prediction markets and more – up 43% from Q1 2021 The timing of both trends aligns with rising global inflation rates over the past year and underscores the role of bitcoin and stablecoins as a hedge against the decline in fiat purchasing power.

“The institutional trading activity we’ve seen at Okcoin reflects macroeconomic expectations of sustained spikes in inflation,” he said Jason Lau, COO of Okcoin. “As a scarce commodity, bitcoin has always been an attractive inflation hedge, but now we’re seeing large holders taking their positions a step further by entering decentralized bitcoin lending and lending, yield farming, and more. While stablecoins don’t offer an uptrend, they also provide access to DeFi yield opportunities and are an ideal mix of stability and liquidity, which is particularly attractive to investors today.”

Notably, institutional purchases of Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market cap, on Okcoin surpassed those of Bitcoin for the first time January 2022, US inflation hit a 40-year high of 7.5% in the same month. Other notable stablecoin activity among institutions includes a 470% increase in TerraUSD (UST) purchases and a 365% increase in USDK purchases between January and March 2022.

In addition to the 43% increase in STX purchases, institutions made significant investments in Arkadiko (DIKO), a Stacks-based Bitcoin loan repayment network, with a 480% increase in purchases of DIKO from Q4 2021- for Q1 2022. Purchases of NYCCoin (NYC), which is stackable and can be staked by investors to generate returns in Bitcoin, rose 134% by the end of March after the asset was listed January 2022.

Rising institutional involvement in bitcoin-based DeFi services was further underscored in the first quarter by the oversubscribed launch of Bitcoin Odyssey, a pledge by venture capitalists to deploy it $165 million in startups developing solutions for the adoption of Bitcoin. Co-founded by Okcoin and the Stacks Accelerator, the collective includes Digital Currency Group, GBV Capital, White Star Capital and GSR, among others.

Visit okcoin.com/institutions for more information.

About Okcoin
Founded in 2013, Okcoin is a US-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange serving more than 190 countries and territories. The platform allows retail and institutional investors to buy more than 50 digital assets in local currencies with a mission to make crypto easy for everyone, including first-time buyers. Okcoin was the first centralized exchange to offer a direct entry into decentralized finance (DeFi) with Earn, a tool for earning APY through decentralized lending, liquidity pools, staking, and more. In addition, Okcoin offers institutional trading tools and APIs for asset managers, venture capital and hedge funds, retail brokers, payment processors, and more. Follow Okcoin on Twitter at @Okcoin and visit okcoin.com for more information.

SOURCE Okcoin

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