OKCoin announced that it has secured $10 million in its first round of funding led by venture capital firm Ceyuan.
The biggest Bitcoin exchange in China, OKCoin, has reached $10 million milestone in Series A VC funding, as it was reported by Chinese website Kuailiyu.
Star Xu, OKCoin’s CEO told that a big share of the fund are supposed to be invested in team-building activities at the exchange. Also funds will be directed to for research and development purposes, security improvements.
But the most interesting plan of OKCoin is to expand operations outside of Chinese border, unlike BTC China and Huobi. OKCoin was hinted at moving into Singapore, the US and Hong Kong.
It might be connected with the fact that those regions create clear regulations for virtual currency trading. There is no detailed information on expansion at the moment, but there are allegations that the news on the expansion is coming soon.
“We are delighted to invest in the pioneer of China’s bitcoin exchanges; given the company’s leadership under Star Xu and his team, we know there is much more good news ahead.”, said founder and partner at Ceyuan, Mr Feng Bo, confirming his confidence in the future of bitcoin and the growth of OKCoin.
However, the big investment interest in OKCoin is not a surprise, because the company is the largest in China by trading volume. The estimated amount of transactions per day is roughly 50 000 bitcoins.
What is more, OKCoin claims to have had trading volumes as high as 300,000 BTC and 13 million LTC per day in time of the peak of trading late last year
Demand for Bitcoin and other digital currencies are huge in China, and the current uptick in litecoin value is almost certainly attributable to competing exchanges BTC China and Huobi trading in the “bitcoin silver”.
Howbeit, major investments and VC outfits indicate that Bitcoin goes far beyond being an enthusiast’s evening project. Now it seems to be the real deal.
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