Big Changes Coming Within the Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Realm

There’s a lot of changes happening with Chinese bitcoin exchanges lately in light of the recent central bank inspections. Last week the top three exchanges within the region drastically changed margin lending services. Now more revelations have come to light as these companies plan on charging their customers trading fees starting at the end of January.

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New Chinese Exchange Policies May Affect Markets

It seems after January 24, 2017, the top three Chinese bitcoin exchanges BTCC, OKcoin, and Huobi will be charging trading fees. The announcement comes after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) began inspecting the exchanges and pledging new oversight. The most vocal company so far has been the BTCC exchange giving details to the public regularly.

“BTCChina, our CNY exchange, will start charging fees for bitcoin and litecoin trading from 12:00 PM (noon) UTC+8, Tuesday, January 24th,” explains BTCC during the recent trading fees announcement. “Market makers and takers will both be charged a flat fee of 0.2 percent per transaction. We are implementing fee-based trading to curb market manipulation and extreme volatility.”

Many Bitcoin community members are wondering how these new policies will affect the Chinese trading market. The new rules have a stark contrast to the years when Chinese exchanges operated with no trading fees and significantly sized margin lending practices. While BTCC’s newly implemented fees are pretty low, a lot of people are welcoming these new changes to the Chinese Bitcoin markets. One commenter on Reddit declares, “We are now witnessing a historic moment in Bitcoin, the end of the China casino era.”

Could Another Country Beat Chinese Volumes?

Throughout the years China has dominated the trading market with vast volumes, but many questioned the numbers due to the exchanges lack of fees. With the new changes towards margin lending, and applying fees to trades, it may put China in a different position. Other countries are slowly rising to become the top dogs within the Bitcoin space.

For instance, Japanese trading volumes have exploded over the past few months as the country is now second in Bitcoin trading volume below China. Japan has focused steadily on capturing the Bitcoin and blockchain ecosystem and has definitely made its presence known over the past year. Companies like Bitflyer have positioned themselves as leading Bitcoin exchanges. Now the leading Japanese Internet company, GMO Internet Group is joining the Bitcoin exchange and wallet arena.

In Overcoming China’s Lead Trade Volume May Not Matter

China has gained a noteworthy head start when it comes to the digital currency and blockchain industry. The country has dominated in transaction volume, trading volumes, mining pools, and the manufacturing of mining equipment. Just one Chinese exchange has the lion’s share of the world’s Bitcoin trading volume compared to most global exchanges. However, some would tell you not to pay too much attention to Chinese trading volume as BTCC founder Bobby Lee once stated:

There is a lot of mining that goes on in China. However, I caution you: do not read too much into the high trading volumes. China has decent high volumes but unfortunately two of my competition exchanges — I never like saying this — but they are artificially inflating their volumes through the technique of wash trades. They use it for bragging purposes. They try to outdo each other. It’s not regulated yet so they don’t get slapped on the wrist for doing that.

It’s safe to say it will take some time before a serious contender comes into play. But it doesn’t mean China will dominate forever.

What do you think about the recent Chinese Bitcoin exchanges’ policy changes? Let us know in the comments below.

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