According to a recent study, people from the United States, South Korea, and the Russian Federation have used centralized exchanges the most frequently this year.
The discovery follows the spectacular collapse of FTX, one of the biggest such platforms, which occurred in the midst of stricter rules and a decline in new users.
Turkey and Japan are also among the top three in terms of traffic, although the U.S. leads by the number of CEX users.
According to Huobi Research’s “Global Crypto Industry Overview and Trends” yearly report for 2022-2023, visits to centralized exchanges (CEX) for cryptocurrencies are primarily from the United States, South Korea, and Russia, accounting for 22% of all visitors.
The United States is clearly in the lead when it comes to the total number of crypto users that generate CEX traffic, with a proportion that exceeds 9%.
With 7.4%, 6.1%, 5.6%, and 3.8%, respectively, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, and Japan come in next.
The findings, however, come after the collapse of FTX, one of the biggest CEXs, which sought bankruptcy protection on November 11 due to cash problems.
The researchers refer to it as “the incident of the year since entering the current bear market” and point out that it is one of a series that also includes Terra’s bankruptcy and 3AC’s collapse.
The report also shows that in 2022, compared to the year before, the entire market size of CEXs shrank more noticeably.
Additionally, according to Huobi Research, after the FTX bankruptcy, regulations on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are becoming stricter across the board, including for on-chain activities. Regulators may also require CEXs to disclose proof of funds or keep a certain amount of money in reserve.
An Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets was signed by U.S. President Biden this year, the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation was approved, Russia worked to strengthen its legal framework for cryptocurrencies, and South Korea passed eight regulations related to the topic.