There are a couple of thoughts I would like to add and also share my experiences from the last 8 years living in Thailand. As I also feel many of the points I'm about to make are relevant though-out Asia and stockmarkets in Asia more generally.
I must clarify that much of my investing has been concentrated on the Thailand Exchange (The Thai SET), with some also in Hong Kong and Singapore.
I feel the CryptoMarket is unique in the sense it really is a decentralised market with a decentralised asset base in the sense that many of the crypto’s are not listed in one location or on one exchange in one country and/or influenced by one group or culture of people. In other words, the asset base is listed on the global stage for all to participate in. This differs greatly to other markets and the assets listed on this markets, which are more centralised.
People around the world would have little to no exposure to a local Asian listed company, and would have no idea of what influences the company stock price and how the people of that country wish to manipulate it. I’m not saying the people who trade the asset on that local market market have any control over the company, but there are large swings in opinion (through social channels) on how the price of a stock of a particular company moves.
The Thai SET is commonly known as the Yo-Yo Market in social circles and for very good reason. I have never seen stocks swing like this. But, when you have more of an understanding of how social networks operate in Asia as well as how people leverage social media to build their social networks, it is easy to see how the prices of some of Thailand’s biggest company’s can fluctuate.
Seeing the huge gains that have been made in cryptocurrencies is going to be like bees to the honeypot to most investors in Asia. I think we are only starting to see the tip of the iceberg now.. If you think your Altcoin’s are swinging now, you have seen nothing yet! With these levels of gains and the Asian sensibility of good luck and fortune they believe that they have, OMG Crypto Altcoins you are ripe for the picking. The only hold back at the moment for all this new injection of Asian money into the cryptocurrencies is the on-ramping problem, that the majority of Asian people faces in getting into the cyryptomarkets. Im sure this problem will be resolved very soon.
The positive in that much of all of this will lie in the concept of Bitcoin as GOLD, digital GOLD to be more accurate. This idea alone will become the very thing that will offer the upmost stability to Bitcoin. Asian people love the idea of GOLD, it is something that they can trust and something no one can take away from them. If Bitcoin really is the digital embodiment of GOLD then in the eyes of Asian investors its something they can trust and believe in. (Very Smart, Satoshi Nakamoto)
Cryptocurrencies coupled with the idea that you can independently crowd source funding for a company or start-up is also going to be adding an new layer to how Asia, and I’m sure the rest of the world will look at the market of Cryptocurrencies. All that combined market cap sitting in Cryptocurrencies is far to inviting for young brash Asian/Western entrepreneurs to ignore. The new start-up revolution is upon us and cryptocurrency will fund it in a decentralised money grab.
As there will be and as we have already experienced, there will be many teething problems along the why for cryptocurrency. There will be, I’m sure great ups and downs. But lets hope, nothing like we have experienced in more centralised markets such as Wall Street where greed led to the crashes of 1929, 1998 and 2018. The decentralised nature of the cryptocurrency market should be seen as its greatest strength. Finally there is a market we all own and influence with all the global pros and cons that make up are human race.