Over the past few weeks, the Bitcoin value has seen some tremendous ups and downs. When the last dip occurred, many traders assumed Bitcoin would turn into a bearish market once again. Interestingly enough, they were incorrect in that assumption. In fact, the Bitcoin price has regained a lot of value over the past few days, surpassing US$2,500 again.
Bitcoin Marches Back Toward US$2,500
The past week has been filled with some positive news for Bitcoin. All major Chinese exchanges have resumed cryptocurrency withdrawals. That is considered to be a good thing, a no one likes to see their funds get stuck in an exchange wallet. Keeping money, especially when it comes to cryptocurrency, in an exchange wallet is asking for trouble. Users are not in full control over their money when they store funds on an exchange.
What is rather peculiar about this “bitcoin withdrawal freeze” is how the decision was not forced upon exchanges by the People’s Bank of China. Granted, the PBoC had several meetings with exchange operators to discuss new AML guidelines. Nearly every exchange had to introduce some changes, a process that took several months to complete. However, none of the exchanges were officially ordered to suspend Bitcoin and cryptocurrency withdrawals. That makes the initial decision a bit strange, although it did not cause any lasting damage in the end.
OKCoin manager: PBoC didnt stop wd. Exchanges discuss & decided together. Recent resume wd also not by order of PBoChttps://t.co/Bh48NTq3zu
— cnLedger (@cnLedger) June 2, 2017
Regardless of the reasoning behind it, resuming withdrawals was not a decision by the PBoC either. All of the major exchanges decided to resume services around the same date, which instills more confidence in bitcoin among Chinese investors. Many people see Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a way to complement their existing savings or pensions. In these days or financial turmoil, having a “backup plan” is always a good idea. Bitcoin has the best chance to maintain its value, or even appreciate over time.
Ever since the Chinese exchanges resumed these services, they have been generating a good amount of trading volume once again. OKCoin.cn, BTCC, and Huobi are all in the top 10. In fact, the CNY exchanges are the leading fiat-to-bitcoin exchanges as of right now, although Bithumb is not too far behind. China has lost a lot of its status since these withdrawals were suspended. Korea has shown a great appreciation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ever since.
All things considered, it is only normal to see the Bitcoin price go past US$2, 500 once again. Nothing is holding Bitcoin back right now, other than the lingering scaling debate. However, that has been a problematic part for some time now and does not appear to affect the Bitcoin price in a negative manner. It will be interesting to see if this momentum can be maintained over the coming weeks and months, though
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