It's crazy how quick China can change things. I guess when you have 1.4 billion people...
Another interesting graph:
Are there any Chinese on Bitcointalk (or Chinese speakers) who can provide insight into what's going on?
Another interesting graph:
Are there any Chinese on Bitcointalk (or Chinese speakers) who can provide insight into what's going on?
I'm in Hong Kong and trading bitcoin on many different platforms, both Chinese and Western
The volume spike in China is related to these reasons:
1. There is an ongoing price war in Chinese markets. Many platforms, including btcchina, the biggest and oldest one, have zero trading fee. Therefore it is a bit unfair to compare their volume with other Western markets.
2. Chinese BTC exchanges have the best integration with fiat transfer system. Taking btcchina, the biggest exchange as example. Users can transfer fiat from any major Chinese bank to the exchange instantly with zero fee. Therefore, depositing BTC is literally faster and cheaper than depositing bitcoin (as the user may need to pay 0.0001BTC as network fee, while depositing fiat is absolutely free). To withdraw, only 0.5% is deducted and in most cases it will arrive in 24 hours. No daily limit. No AML or KYC. All you need are accounts of any major Chinese bank and Tenpay (the Chinese version of Paypal).
3. The volume of some platforms are suspicious. I personally trust the volume figure of btcchina.com, bitxf.com, and rmbtb.com. Not saying that the rest are not legit, just I have never traded on them. The volume on btc100.org is high probably because they are giving share of the exchange to traders. btc008.com is a known and ongoing scam.
4. It is very difficult for Chinese people to obtain USD and wire to Western exchanges, so they have to pay premium in Chinese markets.
Although it is easy for me to deposit to btcchina, I'm only buying at btc-e since the price is much lower. If I had to sell (but not now), I will definitely do it on btcchina. (This is the advantage of Hong Kong as we are the gateway between China and the rest of the world)
Interesting, good info
