Chinese are buying THOUSANDS of BTC. Did I miss some news?

[jzcjca00]

People are confusing trading volume with money flowing into bitcoins.

The trading volume is high right now because BTCChina has adopted a maker-taker pricing structure, which actually pays a 0.3% rebate to traders who place limit orders that are not executed immediately.  That has prompted a relatively small number of people in China to continue to do a large amount of day trading.

The important thing to remember is that every trade involves a buyer and a seller.  The buyer is getting into bitcoins, but the seller is getting out of the exact same number of bitcoins!  This is not strong demand.  It's just day trading.

I'm not sure what's going to happen with the Jan 31 deadline.  Perhaps many day traders are planning to cash out at the last minute, and that will cause a price dip.  Perhaps others will decide to stay invested and keep day trading, even though they might not ever be able to cash out.  Perhaps some of them will hold their bitcoins, hoping that someday they will be useful in the future.  Or perhaps the exchanges will find ways around the policies, and things will keep going as they are now.

For my part, I'm planning to have fiat at the exchanges in hopes of picking up some cheap coins in the last week of January!

[guybrushthreepwood]

BTCChina started selling "gift cards" at stores.  You buy them and use the code and they allow that amount of dollars on the exchange.

Chinese are smart, they know how to move money around, its not rocket science to avoid these regulations. Just another step.

The main thing is BTC is perfectly legal to trade. And LTC :-)

Those sneaky smart Chinese Bastards. That;s a great way of getting round restrictions.

[hilariousandco]

BTCChina started selling "gift cards" at stores.  You buy them and use the code and they allow that amount of dollars on the exchange.

Chinese are smart, they know how to move money around, its not rocket science to avoid these regulations. Just another step.

The main thing is BTC is perfectly legal to trade. And LTC :-)

Those sneaky smart Chinese Bastards. That;s a great way of getting round restrictions.

Haha, I've always said people will find a way around bans or restrictions so it's futile as people will always find a way to capitalise on prohibition.

[keithers]

The word is that the majority of the volume is being done on a different Chinese exchange that is backed by a Chinese personal bank account.  This is a way to circumvent the laws and guidelines that were passed in China regarding the third party payment processors...

[nodroids]

The ban is for the highly connected, and untouchable Chinese to get their Yuan into Bitcoin at a cheaper price. The rest of the population is just going to have to take two weeks to figure out another way.

[log2exp]

Notice that Chinese stock market is falling 2% yesterday. Could have some impact on BTC price in short term.

[MatTheCat]

Chinese are smart, they know how to move money around, its not rocket science to avoid these regulations. Just another step.

The main thing is BTC is perfectly legal to trade. And LTC :-)

For now, perhaps it is.

But what about when the Chinese government make it impossible for the exchanges to operate.

Who is going to fill in that 65% trade volume gap should such a situation arise?

India?

Netflix customers?

[jzcjca00]

Chinese are smart, they know how to move money around, its not rocket science to avoid these regulations. Just another step.

The main thing is BTC is perfectly legal to trade. And LTC :-)

For now, perhaps it is.

But what about when the Chinese government make it impossible for the exchanges to operate.

Who is going to fill in that 65% trade volume gap should such a situation arise?

India?

Netflix customers?

Could you explain the "trade volume gap" theory to me?  I cannot understand why it has any impact on bitcoin if a bunch of people in China stop day trading.  It's not as if they were buying goods and services.

[Borbolon]

I'm not sure what's going to happen with the Jan 31 deadline.

Sorry, what deadline?

[Borbolon]

Ah, I found it: "Companies currently offering Bitcoin related services must end services by the Chinese New Year, a weeklong holiday that begins on Jan. 31" So I guess there will probably be negative influences to bitcoin prices at least until all the companies end opting out, no?

[johnyj]

In china, the central bank belongs to the government, and the government is led by communist party, so some higher officials in government/party have higher power than banks, their personal account should never be touched by the banks. I guess this might eventually lead to some government officials become the bitcoin exchange center  

[drewster]

Ah, I found it: "Companies currently offering Bitcoin related services must end services by the Chinese New Year, a weeklong holiday that begins on Jan. 31" So I guess there will probably be negative influences to bitcoin prices at least until all the companies end opting out, no?

WHere did you find that??

[Trujillo]

Ah, I found it: "Companies currently offering Bitcoin related services must end services by the Chinese New Year, a weeklong holiday that begins on Jan. 31" So I guess there will probably be negative influences to bitcoin prices at least until all the companies end opting out, no?

WHere did you find that??

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-17/china-bans-payment-companies-from-clearing-bitcoin-news-says.html