Diogo Mónica, the Co-founder and President of Anchorage Digital, believes that there is immense opportunity for Asia’s institutional investors, with the digital asset infrastructure provider on October 5 announcing a “major expansion” of its platform into the region.
It has been reported that Mónica said the company chose Singapore as a “jump point” into the wider Asia market as the country has become a hub for crypto companies and has a strong regulatory environment. Anchorage is currently undertaking the application process with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state’s central bank.
He added:
“It’s about being in a regime that’s friendly towards crypto and that businesses want to do business in. We’re institutional only, institutions are going to Singapore, so we’re following suit.”
However, Mónica said he sees “tons of opportunity” in the Thai, Indonesian, Japanese, and South Korean crypto markets as well, after speaking to regulators there, though he expects the company will need a more local presence.
He further said:
“Right now, our strategy is being regulated in Singapore, as it’s recognized by all the other regulators as a great location. Other regulators in the region have very strict, but very clear rules, which is amazing.”
The report said that Anchorage provides infrastructure for use by financial institutions to enable digital asset custody, exchange, staking, and other Web3-related services. Mónica said that Asian institutional investors have changed their tune on how they approached crypto investments after the wake of the Terra ecosystem collapse.
Likewise, he said it was rarer for Asia-based institutions to care about the security of the assets up until recently, with a tendency to focus more on product features. In the wake of the collapse and the resulting sluggish crypto market, the focus has shifted to regulation, risk management, and business continuity.
He added:
“I now have conversations about bankruptcy, and whether their assets are bankruptcy remote, and whether they’re on your balance sheet. […] But a year ago, nobody’s asking me questions about bankruptcy. A year ago, everybody was asking me questions about DeFi and things like that.”
Thus, he concluded:
“You‘re seen as the leader, and you’re seen as the people that expanded and have conviction, even during the bear market.”
Source: Cointelegraph