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February 20, 2015, 04:20:06 AM
Last edit: February 20, 2015, 04:32:57 AM by BusyBeaverHP |
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After Mt. Gox's collapse and before Coinbase opened, the bitcoin exchange rate was dictated purely by a seller's market in the East. Though it has not been yet a month after Coinbase's opening, the market movement has changed noticeably in relations to bad news.
I've observed the Eastern world treatment of bitcoins versus Western, and hypothesize that China constantly dumps bitcoins because:
1. Bitcoin is banned as a purchasing instrument.
2. The majority of miners are located in China.
Considering the ban of bitcoin in China, a Chinese cannot purchase anything legally with bitcoins. Bitcoin then is relegated to being a speculative instrument in the East with short-term profit in mind.
The adopters in the West view bitcoin differently, while the public would not touch it with a 10 foot pole, there are distinctions from the East:
1. Bitcoin is allowed to grow as an economy and is a legally recognized asset / purchasing instrument.
2. Mining in the West is more expensive, therefore purchasing bitcoins is preferred.
3. The majority of bitcoin-related innovations and software development are in the West.
This incentivizes the forward thinking minority in the West to hold it as an investment. There is buying pressure in the West.
It's my observation that ever since Coinbase opened, it has been generating a large amount of buying pressure, and that's just from 26 of 50 states. No matter how many exchanges go down, the market just doesn't care anymore, and I think Coinbase has a non-trivial role in this change of market dynamics.
Most people in the US who wants bitcoins have to purchase them and hold. The West is a buyer's market as far as bitcoin is concerned.
Furthermore, I think this is just the beginning, as the Western mainstream media is just warming to the idea of digital currency. CNN's recent documentary is one example. Gemini has yet to open, that is another potential buyer's market waiting to open as well...
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