Savers boosting bitcoin demand in China, exchange says
Bitcoins, the unofficial online currency units created as an investment instrument independant of banks, are booming on the mainland
A co-founder of China’s biggest bitcoin exchange on Friday said there were “boundless opportunities” for the digital currency in the country because of the Chinese saving ethic.
“The main reason why bitcoin has become big in China is because Chinese people are savers, and more people are seeing bitcoin as a way to store and invest their money,” Linke Yang, vice-president of BTC China, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore.
“There are boundless opportunities for BTC China and bitcoin in the next five years, you never know with the way the internet develops,” Yang said through an interpreter.
Bitcoins, a form of digitally-created ‘e-money’ which is stored in a virtual wallet and bypasses banks, allowing users to remain anonymous, has soared in value in recent months.
They were created in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis by an anonymous programmer who wanted a currency independent of any central bank or financial institution.
The price of a bitcoin on BTC China, which is available only to traders in the mainland, is currently at 2,647.90 yuan (HK$3,348.12), surging nearly 100 per cent from its price in late October.