Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes against the British pound (GBP) surged to a new high after the Sterling wobbled on Tuesday, prompting market experts to speculate that investors scrambled to dispose of the Pound in exchange for Bitcoin or to profit from arbitrage.
The British pound reached a record low against the U.S. dollar, according to data compiled by the Kaiko Research team, after the United Kingdom government announced unfunded tax cuts the previous week.
The increasing BTC/GBP trade volume illustrates investors’ preference for the leading cryptocurrency.
Specifically, data released by CoinShares director of research James Butterfill suggested that the crypto-fiat pair’s trading volume on exchanges reached an all-time high of $881 million on September 26.
Monday’s BTC/GBP trade volume was over 1,100% higher than the usual, according to data from Bitstamp and Bitfinex. The average daily activity is approximately $70 million.
Bitcoin Flexes Muscle In UK Exchanges
The UK’s interest in Bitcoin (BTC) will expand “quite quickly” as fiat currency instability makes the flagship digital currency asset resemble a stablecoin, analysts said.
As one of several this week to highlight BTC’s attractiveness over the Sterling, strategy adviser at financial firm VanEck Gabor Gurbacs came to that decision.
“Because of the instability of the pound,” Gurbacs warned, “the United Kingdom will get orange-pilled very rapidly.”
According to James Butterfill, chief of research at cryptocurrency company CoinShares, the increase was likely due to traders exchanging the Pound for BTC.
Butterfill stated, there is a strong association between the volume expansion of Bitcoin and political and monetary instability.”
In addition to the British pound, data shows that the trade volume of other major currencies has surged alongside the cryptocurrency.
Investors Are Now Turning To Bitcoin
Similarly, the volume against the Euro has increased by 85 percent during the past month. During the same period, volume for the USD/BTC pair skyrocketed by 67%.
“When a fiat currency is threatened, investors start to flock to Bitcoin,” Butterfill pointed out.
At one time, the British pound plummeted nearly a quarter against the US dollar. While data from TradingView and Cointelegraph Markets Pro indicate that Bitcoin outperforms fiat currencies by 55%, the longer the term, the more attractive a Bitcoin hedge becomes.
Meanwhile, Bitfinex reported a substantial surge in volume and trading activity for the BTC/GBP pair, which market monitors say highlighted the potential for the leading cryptocurrency to profit from “apparent fiat currency weakness.”
As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $19,584, up 5.7% in the last seven days, data from Coingecko show, Thursday.
BTCUSD pair regains $19K region, trading at $19,407 on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com Featured image from PublishOx, Chart: TradingView.com