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Bitcoin Blooms with Chinese Buyers as Yuan Sinks

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:51 PM
Samburaj Das
Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:51 PM

Bitcoin price has seen sailing good winds lately, spiking early on October 11 from recent averages of $610-$615 to $630. Prices have seen support since, with a high of $649 on the Bitstamp Price Index, a number that hasn’t been scaled since the end of July.

Bitcoin’s rise coincides with the continued fall of the Chinese fiat yuan, sinking to its lowest levels in six years this Monday.

Bitcoin price surged to a 10-week high on Tuesday, following an increased demand from Chinese buyers who are stocking up on bitcoin while expectations for the yuan sank alongside the fiat currency. The yuan fell to its lowest level in six years  this week, following a week-long holiday (the Chinese Golden Week, following China’s national day).

The weakening yuan hit that milestone low of 6.72 to the dollar on Tuesday, the first day of trading after the holiday week in the country. The last time yuan sank to the 6.7 mark was in July, when state banks intervened to try and remedy the situation. The lack of such measures, along with no clear directive from the central bank has led to investors turning to bitcoin, in a country that accounts for an overwhelming majority of the bitcoin trading in the world.

The Bitstamp Price Index (BPI) saw trading at $617.24 at 04:00 AM, the early hours of Tuesday. Merely thirty minutes later, price had spiked to $631.62, climbing over 2.5%.

btc-surge-october-11

The surge coincides with bitcoin activity in China via major exchange BTCC, at the same time.

China’s economy has stagnated in recent years and the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, has repeatedly slashed and lowered interest rates in attempts to spur a stuttering economy. At this time last year, China’s growth slipped below the 7 percent growth mandate set by the government. The decline was the weakest in a quarter since 2009, when the world was in the midst of the financial crisis.

Increasing food prices and lowering manufacturing numbers have led to a stagnating economy. The bleak outlook now combined with a lack of intervention from banking regulators is likely to drive everyday Chinese investors to further seek out bitcoin as a safe store of value.

At the time of publishing, bitcoin is trading at $636.77.

bpi-bitstamp-636-77-oct-12

For a live Bitcoin Price chart, click here.

For yesterday’s daily bitcoin price analysis piece from CCN.com analyst Jim Fredrickson, click here.

All time references are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Featured image from Shutterstock.