Higher Bitcoin trading volumes continue to go the way of the US even as the price of the digital currency picks up to over $966 at the time of writing.
Bitcoin yuan trading dropped
According to data from Bitcoinity, Bitcoin tradings in US dollar is still at almost 50 percent of the global market today while those conducted using the Chinese yuan have dropped to as low as 20 percent.
Fiatleak, which shows world currencies flow into Bitcoin in real time, also confirms that more of the digital currency has been going in the direction of the US - at about four-fold higher than what is going to China.
The close to five percent rise in price in just half a day, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, came in time to coincide with the signing of an executive order on cyber security by President Donald Trump.
The order is expected to commission several different reviews of the government's offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. It is also expected to initiate an audit of several federal agencies' cyber capabilities, seek input on how to improve protections for critical infrastructure and review government efforts to attract and train a technically sophisticated workforce.
Gemini factor
The rise in price also coincides with US-based exchange Gemini introducing a new first for digital asset exchanges - zero-confirmation pre-credited Bitcoin deposits.
The new measure is to help ease Bitcoin deposit delays by enabling any transaction that passes the exchange’s set out criteria to be pre-credited with the amount being deposited and made available for trading immediately.
The exchange notes in a blog post: “That means that you’ll be able to sell BTC for USD or ETH faster and more efficiently. You can also trade in our daily two-sided auction without a delay due to Bitcoin network congestion. Then, once your deposit eventually reaches its required three confirmations, you’ll be able to withdraw the amount of your deposit or any USD or ETH purchased with your deposit.”
Lunar Year factor
Bitcoin price has been unfazed for some time despite the key issues on the market which would have previously changed the market trend.
With the ongoing scaling issue, the drop in Bitcoin trading on Chinese exchanges due to PBoC monitoring which eventually led to the introduction of trading fees then normalized trading volumes across various platforms and the ongoing Chinese Lunar Year celebration, the effect of these issues are hardly felt on the price.
However, despite the Chinese dominance of the trading sector being challenged, the PBoC’s resolve to continue its series of onsite inspections and warning to investors to pay attention to the risks of exchanges and the inability to accurately conclude trading volume changes in the exchange rates of the yuan and dollar to Bitcoin due to the Lunar New Year celebration, the Chinese factor could still be considered relevant to an extent. In the next one or two weeks, a clearer picture may emerge as the Chinese seem to put everything on pause at the moment.