As Chinese Investors Pile Into Bitcoin, Chinas Oldest Exchange, BTC China, Raises $5M From Lightspeed Chinese Bitcoin exchange, BTC China – the worlds largest by trading volume according to Bitcoinity.org – has closed a $5 million Series A from institutional investors Lightspeed China Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The exchange, Chinas oldest, was founded back in June 2011. In recent times it has seen an influx of new investors crowding in as the hype around the decentralised digital cryptocurrency gathers greater momentum. The influx of Chinese investors has helped drive the value of Bitcoin to new heights – which, in turn, is attracting more investors. And resulting in continued cries of ‘Bitcoin Bubble! Bitcoin is currently trading north of $500 on BTC China and on Japans Mt.Gox trading platform, previously the largest Bitcoin exchange before BTC China overtook it. Europes Bitstamp exchange currently pegs the currency at just below $500. Last month Bitcoin broke $200 for the second time - after another spike earlier in the year which was followed by a crash. BTC China said it plans to use the new funding to bolster security and improve its customer service. “We will continue to build the most reliable and secure Bitcoin trading platform for the China market, to offer great customer service, and to have a global impact on Bitcoins, said BTC Chinas CEO and Co-Founder, Bobby Lee, in a statement. This investment is a huge endorsement to our team at BTC China, and will allow us to keep innovating.” In the past couple of weeks, BTC Chinas trading volume has surpassed Japans Mt.Gox and Europes BitStamp, reaching 90,000 Bitcoins in daily trading volume, and more than 200 million CNY in daily transactions. The influx of interest in Bitcoin in China was discussed by Shakil Khan at last months TechCrunch Disrupt Europe conference. Chinese television has been showing a number of short programs about Bitcoin, he noted. Lets recognize that Chinese television is state-run television. So you start seeing the education process taking place there - and thats been very good. Another boost to the currency in China has been attributed to more Internet companies in the country accepting payments made with Bitcoin - for example a division of Internet giant Baidu said it would accept Bitcoin payments for online security and firewall services in mid-October. BTC China noted that several Chinese Internet companies are now accepting Bitcoin for payment - while, internationally, it said the figure runs to tens of thousands online merchants. Commenting on the funding round in a statement, Lightspeed China Partners Managing Director and Co-Founder, Ron Cao, said: The BTC China team is strong in terms of both technology and long-term vision. We think that under the leadership of the founding team, BTC China will continue to build out the Bitcoin ecosystem and bring more efficiency and value to the Chinese consumers, enterprises, and the overall financial services industry.” Bitcoin is igniting tremendous innovation in financial services around the world, added Jeremy Liew, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, in another statement. China is one of the areas where that innovation is happening fastest, which is why BTC China is now the biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world. Lightspeed is excited to support that innovation. November 18, 2013 at 10:53AM ift.tt/17F8SC1
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 10:21:54 +0000
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