It’s been a blockbuster year for Bitcoin — and attention is already turning to what 2025 might have in store for the crypto markets.
Donald Trump is set to return to the White House in January 2020, and widely expected to start relaxing regulations as soon as he enters office.
The outlook’s also bullish across the pond, with the managing director of Kraken UK predicting “2025 will be a true catalyst year for crypto adoption.”
Bivu Das believes the number of Britons who use or have used digital assets will surpass 17 million — that’s equivalent to 25% of the population.
He also thinks we’ll start to see less volatility in established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, even as prices continue to rise on the back of growing institutional demand.
Das anticipates that a growing number of British workers will seek careers in the industry, with universities rolling out new crypto-specific courses to train the next generation of talent.
And with a UK pension fund allocating 3% of its portfolio to BTC for the first time, the executive argues the stage is set for the City of London to embrace digital assets.
Cryptonews caught up with Das to explore how the recent bull run could usher in a new era for adoption.
Bear Markets Are For Building
Das explained that the UK is one of the “biggest parts of the business” for Kraken — and over the past couple of years, the exchange has been focusing on building educational resources for newcomers, in anticipation of a bullish surge.
“We want to create a safe place for them to understand and get to learn and trade crypto and all of that, all the work we’ve been doing is in preparation for that. Now, what does it mean going forward? It’s more of the same look. We need to still manage the risks that are involved. We need to still continue to educate customers. We need to still bring the best experiences to our customers as well, whether that’s listing the right tokens and doing so quickly and enabling them to trade, or having the right kind of trading and customer experiences they demand.”
Kraken UK has already seen a resurgence in demand — both from new sign-ups and older customers reactivating their accounts — in a sign retail interest is beginning to tick up again.
Das told us that crypto’s appeal in Britain lies in how it gives consumers an opportunity to grow their own wealth, without being reliant on old-fashioned financial institutions that might shut them out because they fail to meet eligibility criteria.
“It’s democratizing access to wealth, building capabilities and putting the power back into the people who don’t traditionally have access to that.”
He also pointed to how there’s a growing appetite for stablecoins pegged to the value of the pound, especially when it comes to driving down the cost of remittances and other cross-border payments. Meanwhile, staking is giving long-term holders the chance to earn yields on their crypto in an environment decoupled from interest rates set by the Bank of England.
The executive told Cryptonews he is skeptical on whether the UK needs to roll out its own central bank digital currency — dubbed “Britcoin” — and argued existing infrastructure, including Faster Payments, means it won’t be necessary.
“I’m not clear on what the use case is. So privacy is a big concern, and you know, we’d have to see how that all comes out, but restrictions and use cases still remain the key question.”
Educating Crypto Newcomers
Das says Kraken’s educational efforts have gone deeper than merely explaining how blockchains work, or the history of Bitcoin, but practical tutorials that will help keep consumers compliant and safe.
“We’ve recently just partnered with Koinly as a tax provider. That’s an important thing to know if you’re trading in crypto — that you need to pay tax, when need to pay it and when you need to report it. We’re going to provide some more educational resources around fraud. Authorized push payment (APP) fraud is a big topic in the UK, and how to avoid scams.”
Estimates from UK Finance suggest the losses from APP fraud hit £459.7 million. Along with purchase scams, where victims are deceived into purchasing items that never arrive, romance scams are a growing concern. This is where unsuspecting consumers are tricked into believing they’re in a relationship, and pressured to transfer a substantial amount of funds.
Das told Cryptonews that Kraken has sought to differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace by being regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and offering a trustworthy service to those who are new to the industry. And drawing a contrast with other exchanges that have spent millions of pounds on attracting new customers, he added:
“Despite being an American company, we’ve never been overly flashy in all of our advertising or marketing.”
He went on to warn that the UK must take steps to establish clear rules of the road for the British crypto industry to follow — or the country risks being left behind.
“It brings investment, it brings certainty, and that brings free growth for the Labour government.”
The post Expert Reveals UK Crypto Predictions for 2025 appeared first on Cryptonews.
