It appears that not a lot has change in terms of Bitcoin price and other parameters since last week, but in times like these when the price has been pretty erratic, even the news that there hasn’t been any significant changes is newsworthy. The news that Chinese authorities intended to close down Bitcoin exchanged proved to be a cause for serious concern among experts, investors and Bitcoin owners.
The price dropped severely, going under the $4,000 for the first time in a longer period, but it soon stabilized at about just above $3,900. Throughout the last seven-day period the price remained pretty much stable, something that rarely happened in the last months. That is a strong indicator that the shocking news from China, don’t seem to be that shocking after all. It appears that Bitcoin is more resilient than what most people, including some experts thought.
Price Stabilization, Ban might be Permanent
The price currently is around $3,940 with a growing tendency, but it is difficult to say whether it will stabilize at $4,000 in the upcoming days. At one point it went above $4,000, but it soon dropped below the mark. The market capitalization is now $65.4 billion, pretty close to last weeks $65.8 billion, whereas the trade volume is $1.4 billion, compared to last week’s figure of almost $2 billion. The volume decrease in this case can be interpreted as a sign that the market is stabilizing and shouldn’t be seen as a reason for worry.
CNBC reports that the Chinese ban is permanent rather than temporary, but even that is not proving to have a negative effect on the price. Reports now suggest that China has already prohibited token sales and Chinese exchanges will very likely be forced to close by the end of this month. However, China is not ready to give up entirely on Bitcoin and blockchain in general, as it seems that the People’s Bank remains aware of the potential of Bitcoin and feels that its role will be even more important in the future.
This is not the first time Chinese authorities to put Bitcoin under scrutiny, but it is seems that this time they are more determined than ever. It has been announced that heads of multiple Bitcoin-related organisations have to remain in Beijing during the ongoing investigation and are not even allowed to leave the city.
Bitcoin Seems to Be Resilient
Certain experts don’t share the opinion that the ban is here to stay. Quinn-Watson, for example, feels that as focused on innovation as the Chinese are, they will soon realise that they have to keep relying on blockchain in order to keep the growth of their economy sustainable.
There is another element that shouldn’t be taken out of the equation and can help us understand the situation more accurately. Namely, it seems that Chinese trade isn’t as important as it used to be. Statistics show that trading against the Yuan suffered a severe decrease. While it was about 90% towards the end of last year, it is accounts for about 10% to 20% for most of 2017. And the ban isn’t the only reason for that. All in all, we can perhaps conclude that China needs Bitcoin more than Bitcoin needs China, or at least that Bitcoin is going to survive with or without China.