Ethereum’s Trading Volume Grew And Outpaced BTC In 2021

Ethereum’s trading volume grew and outpaced the one of Bitcoin as the interest in the network and the crypto itself surged according to new reports that we have in today’s Ethereum news.

Ethereum is outperforming other crypto assets this year and the total trading volume shot up 1,461% to $1.4 trillion. This was mainly boosted by the institutions that had more interest in decentralized finance as crypto exchange Coinbase said. More money than ever is being pumped into Ethereum and it comes down to major Wall Street players that are taking interest in the crypto space as well as DeFi. Coinbase as the biggest exchange in the US said that in its half-yearly review ETH outperforms all cryptocurrneices including Bitcoin during the first six months of the year when it came to going growth and trading volume. The total exchange volume for ETH increased up to 1461% during the first half of the year to $1.4 trillion as the report said. The trading volume for BTC, by comparison, increased only 489% while still doubling the ETH total volume.

Ethereum’s trading volume grew by 1461% during the first half of the year as the reports show but its coin also skyrocketed in value:

 “The second most valuable crypto asset appreciated 895% over the 12-month period and 210% over the 6-month period ending June 30.”

But what’s behind the 2021 rally for ETH? According to Coinbase, it comes down to one word: DeFi. The increased usage of Defi protocols built on Etheruem and validating the network’s value as global financial stability and platform for developers was the main reason as the report said. DeFi refers to projects that aim to revolutionize and to replace the current methods of borrowing, banking and lending as seen with traditional finance and are mostly built on Etheruem.

Right now, $61.2 billion is locked into the Defi ecosystem according to the DeFi pulse data which refers to the amount of cash running through DeFi projects and the biggest of the projects is Aave as a crypto lending protocol. Other projects like decentralized exchanges which work like Coinbase but don’t have an intermediary are also large. Uniswap has $5.58 billion locked in and its exchange does around $295M in its 24h-hour volume. The world of DeFi promises plenty but it is still experimental as billions can be made but also can be lost. It is unregulated and vulnerable to hacks.