The value of the digital currency continues its upward trend, despite Chinese crackdown on virtual money and uncertainty regarding SegWit2x activation.
The bitcoin price increased above $4,430 earlier today, fully recovering from the 40% decline observed within the last month. The cryptocurrency thus has managed to gain almost $1,000 in value in less than two weeks, rising from $3,500 level.
At press time, bitcoin is estimated at $4,402, with its market cap amounting to more than $73 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Meantime, the crypocurrency’s daily trading volume escalated to $1,4 billion.
The recent ban on bitcoin exchanges in China was among the main reasons that pushed the cryptocurrency market down. In September, Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China, claimed that ICOs are illegal and requested domestic startups to stop all ICO-related activities. Some investors, however, found alternative ways to continue bitcoin trading and started buying and selling the virtual currency via messaging apps and peer-to-peer marketplaces.
Last week, similar news came from South Korea, where the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) imposed a ban on raising money through all forms of virtual currencies.
At the same time, it seems that investors are getting used to the new market conditions. On Wednesday, the bitcoin price surpassed its “pre-crisis” level despite the news about BTCC’s decision to stop cryptocurrency deposits.
Another factor that had a negative impact on the market is the recent comments from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who called bitcoin a “fraud” and said that it will eventually blow up. “The currency isn’t going to work. You can’t have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart,” Dimon claimed, adding that he would fire an employee who traded with digital currencies.
Dimon’s remarks have been widely criticized within the community, with UK-based liquidity provider Blockswater even filing a market abuse report against JP Morgan’s CEO for spreading misleading information about bitcoin.
Despite these factors, the price of digital currency has managed to return to the $4,400 level that was last time observed on September 9. Meanwhile, an ethereum-based NEO demonstrated significant gains as well, rising by nearly 14% on Monday. As CoinMarketCap shows, the cryptocurrency is now estimated at $35,49 per coin.
Some attribute the bitcoin price surge to an illegal independence referendum in Spain on Sunday, which saw 90% of Catalans vote in favor of independence.
The growing interest in virtual currency now comes from Japan. Unlike Chinese regulators, the country has a positive stance on cryptocurrency and actively supports the growth of the market. Last week, the Japanese authorities officially approved 11 companies as registered cryptocurrency exchanges, contributing to the growth of bitcoin trading volume. BitFlyer, which was one of the 11 exchanges approved by FSA, claimed that with the current regulation Japan will soon turn into one of the world’s largest bitcoin trading hubs.
“Japan has been exploding with demand for both bitcoin trading as well as virtual currency services,” said Yuzo Kano, CEO of BitFlyer. “The FSA’s approval for bitFlyer to operate as a Registered Virtual Currency Exchange, and the agency’s openness and forward thinking regulation could not come at a better time for the blockchain space.”
Meantime, the possibility of SegWit2x implementation in November has not affected bitcoin’s value, what means that investors are sure the hard fork will not happen. Many companies have already left the SegWit2x agreement, as SegWit is showing efficient scaling.
Not many bitcoin users are aware of another hard fork that is planned to take place as early as October 25th. Named “Bitcoin Gold” (BTG), the project will release an improved protocol, which is to change bitcoin’s consensus algorithm allowing users to mine the currency with graphic processing units (GPU).
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