China’s BTC trading volumes have hit an all-time low in two years with the peer to peer (p2p) exchanges on LocalBitcoin. As of the week of Jan. 25th the trading volumes stagnated at a mere 4.5 million Yuan ($640000).

This recorded a 90% downturn in trading volumes from a weekly average of 45 million Yuan ($6.4 million) they previously achieved. In Jan. 2018 the Bitcoin trading volumes soared at an all-time high of a reported 168.6 million Yuan ($24.3 million).

Although it’s not clear what specifically could have led to the gradual fall in the trading volumes, there are various factors that could have acted as catalysts.

In recent times China has urged its residents to adopt a Blockchain not Bitcoin approach. Just barely 3 months ago, on Oct 2019, China’s President, Xi Jinping was keen to encourage the country to hasten the uptake of Blockchain Tech.

China has observed over 700 new Blockchain firms founded just in January 2020, with over 26,089 of such companies being operational currently. If the average monthly rate of founded Blockchain firms remains the same as in January, China would see 8,565 new Blockchain-related companies this year

The Chinese state run media was quick to iterate Beijing’s lenient position on Blockchain Tech wasn’t an endorsement on various cryptocurrencies such as the BTC. Notably seen when China banned ICOs in 2017 and recently shut down close to 173 crypto exchanges.

However late last year authorities in China allegedly claimed that Bitcoin mining wouldn’t be considered illegal in the country.

This is as China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China has made strides in the quest towards coming up with its own Central Bank digital currency with reports claiming they completed first tests already.

While Longhash reported a new low on Baidu, china’s search engine, of Bitcoin related searches. Data from both search engines and social media have been key indicators of price movement.

However with China dealing with a viral outbreak (Coronavirus), showing that they are currently facing more pressing issues and with the beginning of the Lunar year, majority of the enthusiasts might have opted for more family time.

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