More coins to roll out of South America in near future
Updated
More cryptocurrencies will be coming out of South America relatively soon, says a leading asset manager.
Andrew Durgee, head of Republic Crypto, the asset management team of Republic and its asset management arm Republic Crypto Fund, expects several new digital coins created by South American developers to hit the market within the next three years.
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Market conditions alter timeline
“It is just going to start,” he told Capital.com.
“I don’t know [exactly when.] I think current market conditions have changed the timeline for a lot of people. I would stay tuned over the next 36 months.”
In recent months, digital asset developers have told Capital.com that South America is considered a prime region for crypto expansion because of countries’ traditional, or fiat currency weaknesses; corresponding strong demand for digital payment systems; and lack of trust in conventional banking and finance systems.
Durgee said crypto exchange operator Binance’s (BNB) expansion in the region and South America-based coins’ increasing ability to attach themselves to the Ethereum blockchain will help fuel the growth.
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Bitcoin dominates
"There was a coin that came out of Argentina – it really dominated South America – which was RSK,” he told Capital.com. “RSK was the primary token in that region for quite some time and it was built on [the] Bitcoin [blockchain.]
“Bitcoin really dominates South America. Ethereum has not really gotten a lot of traction in South America until very recently.
Ethereum was the chain that other people built on. Because Bitcoin dominated [South America] for so long, it really held back some of the development that we see coming from other chains.
“But that’s starting to unlock now. So that will not be the case for much longer.”
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Coin rides on Rootstock
RSK rides on the Rootstock blockchain, which is considered a Bitcoin sidechain. (A sidechain is a blockchain connected to another blockchain.)
Rootstock touts itself as being much more affordable than Ethereum due to lower gas fees – the payments required to complete blockchain transactions.
Earlier this month, the Multichain bridging platform began integrating Rootstock and, in turn RSK. (Bridges move cryptocurrencies back and forth between blockchains.)
According to AltcoinBuzz, Multichain supports 53 blockchains. Rootstock is the first Bitcoin sidechain added to its platform.
Bitcoin + DeFi
RSK is in a unique position, the publication reports, because it has Bitcoin fans on one side and automated decentralized-finance (DeFi) technology on the other.
As a result, builders on Rootstock do not need to build bridges anymore.
Therefore, builders will require less time to market new projects built on Rootstock.
And Multichain having introduced the anyCall interoperable protocol, developers can build decentralized computer applications across different blockchains – and move different crypto assets across them.
Republic eyeing region
But Durgee, whose company is seeking to expand its presence in South America, does not see multiple new crypto exchanges emerging there.
“South America is super-fascinating because it's one continent, but it's a lot of different countries,” he said.
“So it's a lot of different jurisdictions and it's not something just like the [European Union] which can satisfy a bunch of regulatory requirements for a bunch of countries from one regulatory body.
“It's not the US or just one giant nation. And the other issue that they have down there is half the continent speaks Portuguese and the other half of the continent speaks Spanish.
Language divide
So there's a lot of divisible issues associated with that. I think it’s a tough mountain to climb.”
He noted that Binance controls more than 60% of global exchange transactions, and some governments in South America and Latin America have different views on bitcoin. For example, Brazil has done an about-face and started to express support for bitcoin in recent months.
“I think we’re in the very early stages of what we’re going to be able to see [coming from South America],” said Durgee.
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