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Bitcoin exchange markets of the US and Japan, which control over 66 percent of the global bitcoin exchange market with a combined daily trading volume of $246,7 million, have led bitcoin price to its new all-time high once again, at $1,567.

According to various bitcoin exchange data market providers, with the exception of China, four of the five largest bitcoin exchange markets and their trading platforms have demonstrated a relatively stable trading value at around $1,560 in the past 24 hours.

In actuality, it can be argued that bitcoin price is currently being undervalued by the global exchange market due to the instability in the Chinese exchange market. Ever since local authorities and the People’s Bank of China significantly tightened Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC), traders moved away from regulated markets to over-the-counter (OTC) markets. Such major migration of users led to a decline in demand toward local exchanges and bitcoin price in the Chinese market hovered around the $1,200 since then.

As of today, bitcoin is being traded in the Chinese market at a value of $1,264, a price that is significantly lower than that of the Japanese and US exchange markets. In fact, the Chinese exchange market is demonstrating a trading value of bitcoin that is nearly 19 percent lower than Japan and the US. The issue with this instability in price is China’s presence in the global exchange market. It is the third largest market with 11 percent of the market share.

Still, even with China’s market hindrance and under-performance, bitcoin price has managed to reach new all-time highs several times over the past week. With a 5.59 percent 24-hour increase, analysts believe the explosive growth of the bitcoin industry in Japan will stabilize bitcoin price at the $1,550 region.

On May 3, Brian Kelly, a financial analyst at CNBC and founder of Brian Kelly Capital, attributed the recent surge in bitcoin price to the rise in institutional investors within the bitcoin market. He stated that the demand from high profile investors, investment firms and institutional investors have led to a stable increase in bitcoin price.

“The biggest driver right now is you’re starting to see institutional investors take a keen interest in the entire sector. I don’t think this is hot money. This is real money that’s going to sit around and build the new internet,” said Kelly.

More to that, local financial publications in Japan such as Nikkei reported that the bitcoin exchange market of Japan is experiencing a rapid growth due to the involvement of multi-billion dollar companies such as SBI Holdings and GMO Internet. According to Nikkei, SBI Holdings already established a digital currency exchange called SBI Virtual Currencies for local traders and the GMO Internet group is planning on launching a similar venture in the near future.

Other countries in Asia including South Korea have also seen increasing interests from institutional investors and large-scale conglomerates. South Korea’s largest bitcoin exchange Korbit, for instance, is backed and funded by the country’s largest telecommunications company SK Telecom, which is valued at $16.5 billion.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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