2022 was a challenging year for several reasons. Along with the rest of the financial markets, the cryptocurrency industry faced strong corrections. The downfall of several projects in the crypto-verse further added to the misery. Despite all of this, consumers continued expressing interest in investing. A recent report by KPMG highlights how crypto and blockchain remained at the top of the list in fintech investment in Singapore.
The KPMG Pulse of Fintech report for the second half of 2022 noted that there was a decrease in crypto investors. Financing for cryptocurrencies in Singapore decreased from $1.5 billion in 2021 to $1.2 billion in 2022, a 21% decline. The amount of money invested in space lowered globally from $30 billion in 2021 to $23.1 billion in 2022.
This downfall was attributed to the crash of crypto platforms like Terra, Three Arrows Capital, as well as FTX. Elaborating on this plummet, the report stated,
“The variance between the first half of the year and the second highlights the rapid shift in investor sentiment. But the news wasn’t all negative. Regtech, in particular, saw incredible investment in 2022.”
The regulated part of the market was seen thriving. This space particularly saw $18.6 billion in investment. It is likely that regtech will emerge as crypto investors are looking for a safe place to pour their funds into. The community would be transitioning “in investment to jurisdictions with stronger regulatory frameworks for crypto activities.”
Will the crypto industry carry this trend onto 2023 as well?
While the crypto market has slowly begun to recover, KPMG believes that the first half of 2023 would remain weak. The report read,
“While investment in crypto is expected to be particularly weak in H1’23…the broader area of blockchain-based solutions—including institutional use cases, cross-border payments, gaming, and NFTs— will likely gain additional attention from investors.”