New Crypto Market Data Published, Blockchain Settlement Pilot Announced

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) recently published the results of a study “to investigate the drivers of crypto adoption” by assembling a database “on retail use of crypto exchange apps at daily frequency for 95 countries” over a period of seven years. According to BIS, the data shows that rising bitcoin prices are followed by the entry of new users, with about 40 percent of new users being men under 35, commonly identified as the most “risk-seeking” segment of the population. The data also indicates that roughly 75 percent of retail investors have likely lost money on their bitcoin investments.

In a recent press release, the innovation center of the New York branch of the U.S. central bank announced that it will collaborate with a group of private sector organizations in a 12-week proof-of-concept project “to explore the feasibility of an interoperable network of central bank wholesale digital money and commercial bank digital money operating on a