Yesterday I looked at Fiatleak.com to see where most Bitcoin activity was happening in the world, and to my surprise most coins were flowing to Chinese exchanges. I thought that could not be right, because Chinese financial institutions and 3rd party payment providers are not allowed to facilitate Bitcoin transactions anymore, so it’s much harder to buy Bitcoins if you are in China.
I assumed it would be a temporary thing and that if I would let fiatleak run longer the percentages would change. But that did not happen, over the past 36 hours 85% of all Bitcoins worldwide were traded in China! The percentage only takes the major exchanges into account, so private trades may make the figure look a bit different, but there is no denying that China is still the biggest source of Bitcoin liquidity.
Interesting is that traditional media do not seem to notice this yet. The recent increase in the Bitcoin price was attributed to Zynga (the game company will start some tests for Bitcoin payments) and Overstock, but I don’t believe that most Chinese users are aware of this.
I can’t explain what’s happening in China, however. I know that over the past weeks most Chinese exchanges found ways to work around the ban. Some, like OKCoin and Huobi, use direct deposits into their corporate bank account as a way to circumvent the existing regulations. Others, like leading exchange BTC China, use a voucher system where users with cash in their account can sell that cash through a voucher to new users that want to buy Bitcoins.
But it’s hard to believe that despite these hurdles to buy Bitcoin, Chinese are still buying the majority of all Bitcoins. What is happening here? Who is buying? I don’t understand it.
You might be right about the %, but the total volume is much lower right? So in absolute terms Chinese trades are a lot lower compared to November/December.
Yes, you are right Yme. Total BTC volume on BTC China is about 30% of what it was a few weeks ago. See for example here: http://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/btcchina/btccny
Do you think the Chinese government are also buying BTC?
I don’t know if the CN government is buying BTC, but it might be an explanation.
You may want to read this sobering article: http://www.businessinsider.com/williams-bitcoin-meltdown-10-2013-12. For me the fact that the Chinese are mostly behind the volatility in bitcoin is a vague (and troublesome) sign. Chinese are only in BTC for the quick win – but actually it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as they can make money with it, it’s fine.
The article is another great example of an economist who has no clue about what Bitcoin is all about (see also my post from Jan. 5: http://www.marc.cn/2014/01/the-year-of-the-bitcoin.html). He may teach finance in university, but after reading his list of incorrect facts and arguments it’s hard to take him serious. He does not even mention the Bitcoin protocol…
I’m buying bitcoin in China via okcoin.
I had known it for a long time but only invested in it recently. I still don’t know much about bitcoin but I think it’s interesting and I’d like to be part of it.