Chinese Bitcoin E-commerce Websites Emerge Without Fanfare
December 2013, the ground of the Bitcoin world was falling through. After a strong rally spanning over a month, the prices, precipitated by rumors that the Chinese central bank was to issue a ban, took a nosedive. Fueling the panic, some of the big names in the Chinese Internet industry washed their hands. Jiasule, a subsidiary of Internet search giant Baidu removed the “Bitcoin accepted” sign from its website; Taobao, China’s biggest marketplace owned by Alibaba, threatened to punish its venders for receiving or selling Bitcoins on the platform. As such signals increased, more scared new converts jumped off the bandwagon.
Will Bitcoin ever going to recover from a setback of that magnitude? – That was the question that many Chinese Bitcoiners asked themselves. Now, half a year later – which is a long time when it comes to Bitcoin, although nobody can’t say with certainty that Bitcoin is sound and healthy, we can at least heave a sigh of relief: Exchange rates, though never returned to the euphoric November levels, has stabilised 1/3 higher than the half year low. Other than pure price movements, progress has been made in terms of real world use: While the established Chinese e-commerce websites had yet given their blessings to the currency, the gap has been filled by an emerging new breed of services.
New BTC-accepting E-commerce Websites
One such websites is Boluojishi.com. According to its founder Yu Wenzhuo in an email exchange with me, the website was launched on May 12 this year. On its front page, for sale are a variety of items ranging from Vietnamese instant coffee to fresh Mango, all payable in Bitcoins. I asked Yu about the amount of daily transactions, and was told that the website uses a reputable third party service to allow vendors and shoppers to pay and receive Bitcoin payments, and itself doesn’t tally numbers: “We only provide a platform and service; we don’t gather data. … BTC is a decentralized currency, and we are trying to do a decentralized platform. We like it this way. It is free and simpler.”
Similar to Boluojishi.com, Coinxu.com is another Bitcoin-accepting online marketplace launched this year. Although information says that the website was registered in Hong Kong, its interface is in simplified Chinese, which indicates that its target customers are Mainland Chinese.
Judging by the variety of items, neither of the two comes even remotely close to industry goliaths like JD or Taobao. To put things into perspective, Coinxu.com has 1,391 items for sale whereas Taobao has nearly one billion. Thus one is tempted to say that the significance of these BTC e-commence websites is limited to their morale boosting and inspiration value – it shows that there are ways to beat the austere regulation. Whether they can be commercially successful will take time. Right now, one can at least say that they have the potential to become new memes, just like Bitcoin itself – As indicated by a Chinese article on how to conduct oneself as a respectable Bitcoiner writes:
“When introducing yourself, show that you have the proper background to avoid being shunned as an outsider. Tell people you are a Yibite member, a mining equipment vendor, or a trader; if you are none of these, at least set up a shop on Boluojishi and tell people that you are a Boluojishi vendor.”
Will They Last?
Boluojishi’s webpage provides neither address nor registration information; the only clue is a phone number that starts with a Shanghai area code 021. Coinxu.com, known as being founded by a Chinese Bitcoin entrepreneur named Luo Jinhai, indicates that its office address was in Hong Kong – given that the SAR is a popular tax haven for mainland Chinese businesses, this address doesn’t necessarily mean there is an office. It is apparent that both are rather cautious and doesn’t want too much public attention – which makes sense given the highly uncertain regulatory prospect.
But regulation is not the only threat to these businesses. So far, their raison d’être hinges on bigger websites’ refusal to take Bitcoins; once the heavyweights begin to enjoy the club, these small players may find themselves struggling. But on the flipside, if that day come, we would have more things to celebrate for than mourning the forerunners who would have by then fulfilled their duty and be remembered for their pioneering efforts.
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Writer：Eric Mu
FORBES ASIA | 7/10/2014 @ 6:59上午
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericxlmu/2014/07/10/chinese-bitcoin-e-commerce-websites-emerge-without-fanfare/
Topic: [Forbes]Chinese Bitcoin E-commerce Websites Emerge Without Fanfare (Read 671 times)
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