Bitcoin Weekly Wrap: Yuan Dominates Trading, MyCoin Losses $20 Mln

A fairly quiet week in terms of price action on the main cryptocurrency market, as Bitcoin was trading between $280 and $300 in a tight range. Forex Magnates has released footage of its panel on the iFX Expo dedicated to Bitcoin’s role in Asia, as Goldman Sachs published a report highlighting that 80% of the trading volumes in Bitcoin have been transacted in Chinese yuan.

Talking Bitcoins, China, Asia and the Future at the IFX EXPO

As part of the iFX Expo in Hong Kong in January, our own Avi Mizrahi moderated a panel on “The Role of Bitcoin and Digital Currencies in Asia.”

Taking part in the panel were:

Rich Teo: Co-founder and CEO Asia of itBit, a global Bitcoin exchange focused on the use and regulatory standards of the existing financial industry

Maxine Ryan: COO and co-Founder of Bitspark, an all in one Bitcoin platform which provides Bitcoin solutions worldwide

Jase Leung: CEO and co-Founder of Bitcoinnect, a Hong Kong company engaging in secure and convenient cryptocurrency gateways

Hugh Madden: Co-Founder of ANX, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange which also integrates trading and payment features in their service.

You can watch the full video recording here.

Goldman Sachs Report: 80% of Bitcoin Trading in Chinese Yuan

A recently released Goldman Sachs report says that 80% of global bitcoin trading volume comes out of China, where it is traded against the yuan.

The report listed USD as the second-highest traded currency, followed by yen and euros.

The data is consistent with that on bitcoinity.org which indicates that roughly 78% of all bitcoin trading volume takes place on either OKCoin, BTC China or Huobi, all China-based exchanges.

Furthermore, the traded volume in China continues to rise despite bitcoin’s price troubles over the past year and the apparent popping of the China-fueled price bubble in late 2013.

You can read the full article here.

SWIFT Panel: Bitcoin Threatening Our Banking Model

A panel discussion on cryptocurrencies, held by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) at the Marriott Marquis in New York, shed some more light on how the global banking system is becoming more aware of Bitcoin as a payment system.

SWIFT’s network links over 9,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries, allowing them to communicate with secure payment order messages, currently numbering over 15 million per day. The network does not settle or clear Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term, functions which are performed by the banks themselves.

You can read the full article here.

MyCoin Losses Near $20 Million as More Victims Come Forward

Police in Hong Kong say that another eighty alleged victims of the MyCoin scam have come forward. Now as many as 150 investors have reported to have fallen victim, according to the South China Morning Post.

The alleged victims comprise of sixty from Hong Kong and ninety from elsewhere, mostly from mainland China and Taiwan.

Total losses may be as high as HK$150 million ($19.5 million). When the story first broke about one month ago, it was feared that investors may have lost as much as HK$1 billion ($390 million). The total figure is still way off, but may grow as more investors come forward.

You can read the full article here.

21 Inc. Comes out of Stealth Mode to Announce Record Funding of $116 Million

Wall Street Journal reports that a Silicon Valley startup, 21 Inc., has quietly amassed a record $116 million in funding to roll out its Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term technology applications.

The funding was raised over the past year and half. If confirmed, the figure is a record for any company in the digital currency space. It’s unclear at this point how much of the funding came in single or multiple rounds. Either way the figure is the biggest ever. Coinbase raised $75 million in January, bringing total investment to $106 million.

You can read the full article here.

Coinbase Exchange Adds FIX API

As a next step to take bitcoin trading to the mainstream, Coinbase Exchange has added support for the FIX (Financial Information eXchange) protocol.

Coinbase’s Bitcoin exchange launched about a month-and-a-half ago to much fanfare, claiming to be the first regulated venue. It has since captured roughly 2% of the global bitcoin trading market, and currently ranks fourth, just behind BTC-e, in USD-based volumes.

You can read the full article here.