linkPeople in the U.S. or the western world may not be aware of this, but Asian markets play an instrumental role in affecting the value and trade volume of cryptocurrencies. Three countries that make a significant impact on Bitcoin values are Japan, China, and South Korea. Statistics show that these three countries accounted for more than 50% of the trade volume for cryptocurrencies in 2017 when
btc price was soaring.
Japan
Japan is the birthplace of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Some of the first mining operations in the world were set up in this country. Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym associated with the creation of Bitcoin platform, is believed to have started his operations in Japan.
Digital currencies have been very popular with the Japanese public who quickly adopted the currencies for daily transactions. A number of banks offer their customers accounts in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The Japanese government mostly left cryptocurrencies markets free to operate without intervention. The first major regulations were rolled out after the Mt. Gox crash in 2014.
ChinaThere was a time when Chinese investors were leading the Bitcoin trading around the world. Chinese exchanges accounted for up to 90% of the daily trading volume in Bitcoin. In September 2017, the Chinese authorities cracked down upon crypto exchanges and mining operations in the country.
This led to a crash in the global markets. The trading volume in China fell to a fraction of its previous high levels. Many exchanges and mining operations moved to Hong Kong which has its own regulations that are separate from the rest of China.
South Korea Trade in CryptocurrenciesSouth Korean investors were slightly late to the party and trading in Bitcoin picked up only in the last two years. The investors from the smaller nation were quite aggressive in their purchasing and led the bullish trend that saw the value of Bitcoin appreciate to over $15k.
In January 2018, the South Korean regulators cracked down on the virtual exchanges operating in the country. The government issued a strong statement that they were looking to ban the cryptocurrency trading as it was being used for criminal activities and money laundering.