P2P Bitcoin Trading Slows in China, Booms in Hong Kong and South Americ

In recent weeks, Chinese P2P bitcoin trading has seen a significant reduction in trading volume. Transversely, Hong Kong and many South American nations have seen a spike in P2P trade, with Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, and Peru witnessing new volume highs in recent weeks.
Chinese P2P bitcoin trading has seen a significant slump in volume during recent weeks. Since June, weekly localbitcoins trading volume has consistently reached between approximately 25,000,000 and 25,000,000 yuan – less than half of volume during February – May. Chinese P2P trading has dramatically slowed since the end of May – which saw the establishment of a new all time high of approximately 100,000,000 yuan worth of bitcoin being traded in 7 days, before volume roughly halved heading into June.

By contrast, the officially autonomous Chinese territory of Hong Kong has enjoyed record P2P bitcoin trading in recent weeks. August saw the establishment of a new all time high in trading volume, with approximately $5,600,000 HKD in trade taking place during both the start and end of August – a gain of over 25% over the preceding all time high of approximately $4,000,000 HKD from November 2016. September’s volume appears to be showing no signs of slowing down, with a new high of 6,150,000 HKD being set at the start of the month.

Speculators are attributing the formulation of highly anticipated Chinese cryptocurrency regulations as the catalyst for the slump in Chinese P2P bitcoin trading. Transversely, China’s historic use of Hong Kong as a regulatory sandbox for economic and financial innovation may have contributed to the spike in Hong Kong P2P trading, with speculators anticipating that Hong Kong may be used as a vehicle to trial more liberal-leaning cryptocurrency regulations.