The last positive and encouraging news about Bitcoin from the People's Republic of China has come during November 2013. The search engine Baidu popular in the country and widely used by Chinese-speaking community abroad has made the decision to accept the virtual coin as a payment method for one of its provided services. Being a big market for business and investments, the announcement has driven the price of the BTC up. The government and the financial institutions, due to the limited nature of the economy of the country and many restrictions in everyday life, have issued several warnings, among them the prohibition for banks to involve in cryptocurrency operations and transactions. This policy has hardly hit the price of the coin that is still unable to recover.
Now, a new attempt is made by another IT and Internet industry corporation – the Sina. The 4th after popularity resource, presented to the society a homepage – the Sina Bitcoin Market information. It is not participating in deals, depositing and withdrawing of funds, but provides the users with sufficient information about the market. The site features statistics, graphical imaging of the trends and happenings, prices and other relevant information. The source of the data is 13 exchange and other corresponding services, among them – Mt.Gox (as for the ration USD/BTC and vice a versa) and BTC China (as for the ration CNY/BTC and vice a versa).
The press release from the 3rd January says that the page has an educative character aiming to assist investors and entrepreneurs of the Bitcoin environment. The developers and the administration of the page welcome any advice and critics to make the layout and content simpler and comfortable to use. Currently, the most feedback received is positive.
Speaking about Sina is necessary to emphasize that the company is a long-time experienced player on the Chinese and Global market. It was founded in 1999 and its location in the midland, in the city of Shanghai is counted from the 2001. Besides the new Bitcoin Information Page is proudly runs 4 main lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sina.net. Weibo is a social network similar to Twitter. It has more than 60000 verified accounts, among them many VIPs and celebrities. The statistics say that the Sina services have about 100 million users globally and this number is going to increase worrying main competitors Baidu and Tencent. Also, the pages run by the corporation undergo censorship, which contravenes with the basic principles of the virtual currency – liberty and freedom of choice, opinion, actions.
The current weather on the local Bitcoin market of China seems to be cloudy. The inability to show clarity has put pressure on the exchange services. The smaller companies as Huobi, chbtc.com and FXbtc receive fiat money deposits via wire transfer, but the giant BTC China has switched to a voucher system. Further implementation of rules and limits from the state might lead to the loss of attraction of the market that might be out powered by the Indian initiatives and loyal approach. The straddle has global consequences that are unfavorable for the industry in general.