China is fueling an impressive uptrend in the price of Bitcoin as Chinese investors find more reasons to store their wealth in alternative currencies. The Chinese Yuan has been falling lower in the last couple of weeks in response to the possibility that the U.S. Federal Reserve might raise interest rates by the end of this year.
However, Chinese folks are flocking to alternative currencies such as Bitcoin to hedge against currency devaluation and volatility in the Chinese economic landscape. This piece seeks to explore the relationship between Chinese economic woes, currency devaluation and its effect on the gains in the price of Bitcoin.
CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index for China
Bitcoin soars to four-month high in response to weak Yuan
The Chinese Yuan is becoming weaker in the wake of tougher capital controls designed to limit the amount of money that Chinese people are permitted to move abroad. The weakness in the Yuan has started fuelling an increased demand for Bitcoin and the upside potential for the alternative currency is looking strong.
On October 21, Bitcoin soared by 4% to near a three-month high of $655.50 to mark the highest trading price since July 29. Trading data available in the markets also show that trading volume soared to 5.5 million Bitcoin to mark the highest point in trading volume in the last 7 months.
You’ll remember that China devalued its currency in August 2015 as a means to halt the outflow of money out of the country and in order to help its local manufacturing industry. The move to devalue the currency didn’t sit well with China’s money families and they protected their wealth by diversifying into Bitcoin and other alternative investments. Of course, the price of Bitcoin has gained about 80% from August 2015 to date in response to that devaluation among other things.
The value of Bitcoin will continue to increase going forward as the realities of a weak Yuan sinks deeper. Zhu Jiawei, COO of Beijing-based Huobi, one of the largest Chinese Bitcoin exchanges observes that “as the Yuan enters a path of depreciation, investors will consider investing in assets that can preserve value and hedge risks.” This morning, Bitcoin is already up 0.78% to $653.47 to suggest that it has found support around $640. Bitcoin is up 0.47% on the Chinese market as it trades against 4,505.87 Yuan.
Can Bitcoin cross the $1000 milestone again?
Arthur Hayes, founder of Hong Kong-based Bitcoin exchange BitMEX observes that that value of Bitcoin will continue to increase if Beijing doesn’t deviate from its plan for constant devaluation of the Yuan. It should be noted that Bitcoin currently trades at a 2% premium against to the Chinese Yuan at 4,488.6 in contrast to the price of Bitcoin against the USD.
The Yuan is currently in a free fall against the dollar dropping 0.1% to 6.77723. Hayes observed that the Yuan could fall as much as 7% against the USD by January and that such a massive decline could cause Bitcoin to rise to cross the $1000 milestone again. In the words of Hayes, “The continued devaluation of the Chinese yuan is what’s driving traders at the margin to buy Bitcoin.”
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