The Chief Executive Officer of Bitkub Online Co., Jirayut Srupsrisopa, has revealed plans to enter new markets.
The plans come after Bitkub’s proven crypto success in Thailand, its country of operation.
Speaking in an interview, Jirayut, however, stated that they may avoid countries with other big players like Indodax in Indonesia.
Bitkub, Thailand’s crypto unicorn
The Bangkok-based crypto exchange attained a valuation of more than $1B in less than four years, impressively joining the elite, global crypto unicorns.
Bitkub plans to offer more countries a range of digital currencies and services and “to become the Coinbase of Southeast Asia,” Jirayut said.
Coinbase Global Inc. is America’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange that has pushed the global cryptocurrency market cap to about $2.75 trillion.
Jirayut banks on strategy and favorable regulations
By and large, Southeast Asia has regulations still not favorable to NFT’s and cryptocurrencies, but Jirayut hopes regulators and policymakers will back digital currencies alluding “they can’t avoid it forever.”
And many sectors have already embraced them.
According to this Bloomberg article:
- Thai developer Sansiri Pcl is accepting digital currencies as payments
- The Tourism Authority of Thailand is planning digital tokens for travel
- Steel tycoon Win Suteerachai is pushing for the legalization of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, a key policy for the upcoming elections by his Ruam Thai United Party.
With good regulations in place, Bitkub will enter new markets such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and Laos with well-thought-out strategies.
“Our strategy is to expand in countries that have no clear winners yet and are under-banked, with high social media usage and the potential to use cryptocurrency for remittances,” Jirayut said. “The expansion will be achieved either through new ventures or acquisitions. The goal is to become the Coinbase of Southeast Asia.”
Growing investor interest
Many financial technology (Fintech) firms and global crypto companies in Southeast Asia have sparked a growing interest to invest in the region, with Singapore leading as one of the world’s most crypto-friendly countries.
Ethereum (ETH) is the most popular cryptocurrency in the region.
Bitkub’s success in Thailand is evident as it has grown its revenue by over 1000% annually since its inception in 2018. The crypto exchange is forecasting an “exponential growth” in digital currency wallets to one billion globally in five years, from just about 80 million currently.
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