Bitcoin’s weekend volume hike due to growing retail trading, high trade premiums in Asian markets

The Asian financial market has been actively involved in Bitcoin this year, with several analysts speculating that one of the reasons for the recent Bitcoin rally is the US/China trade war.

The significant price hike witnessed by the world’s largest cryptocurrency translated to major gains in the Asian stock market where organizations like GMO Internet Inc. in Tokyo and Vidente Co. in Seoul witnessed a growth of 7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

Mikhail Mironov, Co-Founder of SMC Capital, made news after he claimed that the weekend volume witnessed by Bitcoin and other virtual assets over the last month was an indication of growing retail trading in the Asian market. He also pointed out that the rise of Chinese retail interest in Bitcoin was one of the reasons for the significant price hike.

A Partner at SMC Capital, Mironov explained that despite the present complications associated with crypto-trading in China and the ban on ICOs, a series of crypto-exchanges were going live in China.

In an interview with Bitcoinist.com, Mironov said,

“Retail trade from China is on the rise and deserves our close attention. Ever heard of Biki, Bliss, and MXC or Zg.com? These are all the new crypto exchanges in mainland China launched in recent months. They already run business with millions of users acquired by deploying large marketing campaigns, and that’s amid the infamous crypto trading ban. To add, zg.com is a fiat to crypto platform accepting Chinese RMB.”

Mironov’s comment can be backed by the fact that Bitcoin witnessed a massive surge in search queries on WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform which boasts of having over 1 billion users.

China has not been the only country actively involved in crypto-assets. Trading in South Korea carries a trading clause labeled “Kimchi Premium,” under which investors and traders have to pay more in terms of fiat currencies for their crypto-assets. In fact, at press time, Bitcoin [BTC] was trading at a price over $13,000 on South Korea’s UpBit exchange.