Hong Kong’s TideBit drawing Chinese bitcoin investors frozen out in Beijing’s crackdown
Company drawing new accounts from Chinese looking to continue trading virtual currencies after mainland exchanges shut down
Hong Kong-based tech company TideBit is looking to expand its bitcoin trading operations, seeing growing demand from Chinese investors frozen out by Beijing’s crackdown on the virtual currency.
Once the world’s largest market for virtual currency trading, China has been stepping up its policing of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin exchanges such as Huobi, OkCoin and BTCC have announced that the trade would be halted.
But for TideBit, the crackdown has translated into new business.
“The ban did not stop them [Chinese investors] from buying cryptocurrencies,” said Terence Tsang, chief operating officer at TideiSun. “In the last few weeks, we have seen a lot of mainland customers opening up accounts at TideBit. They still want to play the game. I see a growing need in that they will come to Hong Kong or Singapore to buy cryptocurrency,” he said.
TideBit was set up two years ago by think tank researcher turned businessman Chen Ping and is owned by TideiSun Group. Chen is best known for establishing the iSun Affairs online magazine, which is known for hard-hitting stories about Chinese political and social issues that are mostly banned in mainland China.