It HAS been an eventful period for the cryptocurrency industry to say the least. Looking broadly, the collective capitalisation of crypto assets has dwindled by approximately US$2 trillion since its peak of US$3 trillion in November 2021. Coupled with rising inflation, higher interest rates and various geopolitical factors, the sentiment is bearish for digital assets.

Casualties of the crypto winter have, to date, included several high-profile companies linked to Singapore such as TerraForm Labs, Luna Foundation Guard and Three Arrows Capital. Most recently, Singapore-based Hodlnaut announced that it had suspended withdrawals, swaps and deposits “due to recent market conditions”.

Despite this, these events are very unlikely to deter Singapore’s ambitions to become a global digital asset hub, as its interest is not in cryptocurrency itself but the underlying blockchain technology and Web3 applications.