eToro Increases New User Deposits After Surging Demand
2 min readeToro has temporarily increased the minimum deposit amount for new users to $1000.
Cryptocurrency exchange eToro increased its new user deposit from $200 to $1000. The exchange faced an unprecedented surge in demand for its trading services following Bitcoin’s historic rally.
The eToro announced on Twitter, that took the action to protect its 17m current users. They needed to: 40,000 new users signed up in a single day at the start of the year.
Everything’s going up
The spike at eToro came as Bitcoin rallied above the key psychological level of $20,000 on Dec. 16. The rally was accompanied by a steep increase in trading activity and trading volumes. Google Trends data also shows the BTC search volume is at its highest since reaching $20,000 in December 2017.
Moreover, mainstream media outlets such as the BBC and CNN started covering Bitcoin on their front pages as this time. eToro says the latest spike in demand was generated mostly from bidding individual retail traders.
Mainstreaming fees
Some crypto exchanges now require minimum deposits from new users to cover the costs associated with creating accounts. When crypto first appeared, though, the exchanges did not do this. Traders associated these charges with traditional exchanges.
However, cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex took similar action in 2018. It introduced a $10,000 minimum deposit. The exchange faced overwhelming with demand during the 2017-2018 bitcoin rally.
A move similar to Bitfinex’s might have helped some exchanges this year. Binance’s servers stalled as Bitcoin broke past $20,000. The exchange suffered nearly two hours of downtime before trading resumed.
Coinbase also faced this issue. It has been plagued with outages ever since, and some traders are criticizing the exchange on social media because of it.
eToro said its educational resources, including its demo-trading accounts, remain unaffected by the new deposit minimum. The move remains until such time as demand falls or the platform upgrades its capacity.
This goes to show that the cryptocurrency industry can still be surprised by the level of new interest. The growth of institutional interest is growing stronger. The industry must prepare for waves of new investors.
The post eToro Increases New User Deposits After Surging Demand appeared first on BeInCrypto.
