Demand in China Fuels Surging Bitcoin Price
When it comes to Bitcoin investing, most Americans would be shocked to find out that the largest Bitcoin exchange is not located within their country. Not only is America not number 1 in Bitcoin trading volume, the United States isn’t number 2, 3, or 4. The world’s largest Bitcoin exchange by trading volume is in China, and it is the Chinese demand for Bitcoin that is the fuel for Bitcoin’s bull market.
Techcrunch reports:
“Chinese Bitcoin exchange, BTC China – the world’s largest by trading volume according to Bitcoinity.org – has closed a $5 million Series A from institutional investors Lightspeed China Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. BTC China was bootstapped prior to this round, with money put in by its three co-founders, Bobby Lee, Linke Yang, and Xiaoyu Huang.
The exchange, China’s oldest, was founded back in June 2011. In recent times it has seen an influx of new investors crowding in as the hype around the decentralised digital cryptocurrency gathers greater momentum. The influx of Chinese investors has helped drive the value of Bitcoin to new heights – which, in turn, is attracting more investors. And resulting in continued cries of ‘Bitcoin Bubble!’
BTC China’s Lee, who is also the CEO, said it plans to use the new funding for ‘general operating expenses’, and to ‘aggressively grow and expand the business’.
‘We are strong believers in the Bitcoin economy. Earlier this year we went out to raise funding. We knew this would happen — the Bitcoin economy would take off — there would be more attention paid to this space in China, and in the business and venture community. And sure enough everything we predicted is coming true. It’s a scary thought. It’s growing like a weed — so we’re aggressively expanding our team, our company, products & services,’ he said.
In the past couple of weeks, BTC China’s trading volume has surpassed Japan’s Mt.Gox and Europe’s BitStamp, reaching 90,000 Bitcoins in daily trading volume, and more than 200 million CNY in daily transactions. Asked what he attributes BTC China’s growth to, Lee told TechCrunch he believes Chinese people are viewing Bitcoin as another (albeit, relatively new) asset class, and investing accordingly.”
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