We are seeing a huge increase in interest in the world of cryptocurrencies. And two countries that are driving the development of the entire cryptoindustry are Japan and China.
Cryptocurrencies have become very popular in China due to the tight control of the yuan by the monetary authorities. The government sometimes deliberately devalues the yuan for trade purposes. Since the Chinese economy is export-oriented, a weak yuan is important for Chinese exporters. For example, Xiaomi has released a mobile phone that it plans to sell in the West, which will be sold for dollars. Let's conditionally assume that the price of the phone is $ 1000. A month ago, the dollar / yuan exchange rate was 1 to 6, and today it is 1 to 5, the rates are also conditional. In the first case, the company will receive 6,000 yuan upon conversion, and in the second case, only 5,000. This is also a big plus for the state. Since 6 thousand more taxes will be paid. With this sorted out.
But for local residents, the situation is not very happy. With the rise of private capital in China, wealthy people have turned their attention to cryptocurrencies as an alternative to the yuan. With their help, capital can be saved, increased, and at the same time and imperceptibly withdrawn.
This is just one example of the interest in cryptocurrencies on the part of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom, but there is more. China has an abundance of cheap energy and equipment, which facilitates the process of mining (mining cryptocurrencies). The aggregate capacity of Chinese mining pools is about 60% of the total capacity of the entire Bitcoin network.
In connection with the repressions of the authorities, which took place in January 2017, against Chinese crypto exchanges, there was a decrease in the volume of transactions on Chinese exchanges and an increase in them on Japanese ones.
The above actions led to an increase in trading volume in Japan, which rose from one to six percent. But this is not the main reason for such a great interest from the citizens of Japan. The country has minimal interest rates on deposits, and for some types of bonds, it is generally negative. As in China, cryptocurrencies have come to be seen as a more stable asset than the national currency. Therefore, more and more people prefer to invest and keep their money in them.
And of course, do not forget about the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Japan in April. The bill that came into force gives bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies the status of means of payment.
At the moment, it is China and Japan that are the driving force behind the entire global crypto industry.