Luno, Malaysia's leading digital asset exchange, is optimistic that Bitcoin will continue its bullish stance heading into 2025 on the back of the incoming US administration-wide support towards the cryptocurrency market.
Luno Asia Pacific General Manager Aaron Tang said most recently, the cryptocurrency market saw a surge in price following the re-election of Donald Trump as US President.
"If you look at the past couple of years, the US administration has been quite not supportive of the crypto industry.
"However, all those changed when President-elect Trump and his advisory team openly voiced their support and intention to develop the crypto industry. Hence, from there we can sort of extrapolate that other countries and other financial institutions will see that the shift towards making Bitcoin and crypto mainstream is happening," Tang said during a media briefing on Luno Insights for next year.
He added that the other reason driving the surge in the cryptocurrency market recently would be the US' intention of becoming the crypto capital of the planet and accumulating a national stockpile of Bitcoin.
"These macroeconomic factors coupled with the scenario of more and more countries being interested in holding Bitcoin are what contributed to the doubling of Bitcoin's price since the start of 2024," Tang said.
It was reported that Bitcoin has surged above the US$100,000 mark, reaching US$101,555 during the Asian trading on Dec 5, as traders rallied around the prospect of relaxed regulations under Trump's administration.
The cryptocurrency market has surged by US$1.4 trillion since Trump's victory on November 5, driven by his pro-crypto platform.
Meanwhile, Luno's Country Manager for Malaysia Scarlett Chai revealed that Muslim investors are now free to invest in its Ethereum (ETH) Staking after the cryptocurrency exchange was approved to offer it in compliance with Shariah, making Luno the world's first regulated digital asset exchange to offer ETH Staking that is Shariah-compliant certified.
"Committed to enabling our investors to explore and diversify their portfolios safely and securely, we have engaged world-renowned Islamic finance consultancy firm Amanie Advisors Sdn Bhd to review Luno's existing ETH Staking to ensure Shariah compliance and we have gotten the approval for it.
"As such, we are excited to announce that our ETH Staking is now Shariah-compliant and live, assuring Malaysian Muslim investors that their investment is aligned with Islamic values," Chai said during the media briefing.
Chai added that with ETH Staking, investors can potentially receive rewards up to 3% ETH per annum, weekly, without needing technical knowledge to set up staking.
"Staking through Luno also lowers the financial barriers to entry for investors looking to earn rewards with a minimum of 0.0001 ETH or RM1 to stake," Chai noted.
