CME Bitcoin Futures Sees 10x Value Rise As Chinese Crypto Whales Circumvent BTC Ban With OTC Trading

CME Group has declared that it experienced all-time soar in trading volumes for Bitcoin (BTC) Futures as the firm saw x10 value rise on its derivative marketplace.

Between 1st and 4th of April 2019, the marketplace experienced a massive growth from 2000 to over 20,000. Though it is not guaranteed that the market volumes will see price breakouts and these do not imply that the Bull Run will continue, but diverse observes have stated that the cryptocurrency market is about to go bullish.

CME Bitcoin futures had a record trading day on April 4, hitting an all-time high volume of over 22.5K contracts (112.7K equivalent bitcoin), surpassing previous record of over 18.3K (64.3K equivalent bitcoin) on February 19. More #Bitcoin futures. $BTC_F https://t.co/kWYK203apA pic.twitter.com/CX5nF8dXyv

— CMEGroup (@CMEGroup) April 5, 2019

As different bullish news updates gather, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee has placed six months time frame on the much expected bullish trend. A crypto outlook report for 2019 presented by his firm speaks a lot about the incremental growth that the market is experiencing.

Bitcoin (BTC) maintaining its market value around $5,000 is indeed an encouraging sign for the crypto market. As the trading volumes increases, the investors will be looking forward to higher prices like $14,000 which is the fair value pegged to Bitcoin (BTC) by Tom Lee.

Bitcoin (BTC) Becomes Most Searched Keyword

It recently came to the notice of crypto populace that Bitcoin’s the most searched keyword on China’s Baidu search engine which has nearly 2 billion users.

The searches increase with daily increase in Bitcoin’s price, and the past data has revealed that related social media activities and search volume have been linked to Bitcoin’s price increase.

Chinese Crypto Whales Circumvent BTC Ban With OTC Trading

In another development, CNledger, a respected cryptocurrency news platform publishing China-related information, has reported that the Chinese over-the-counter (OTC) market has revealed strong buys which lately influenced overall increase in demand for Bitcoin.

This indicates that Chinese crypto whales decided to circumvent Bitcoin (BTC) ban with OTC trading.

1/ Chinese markets reveal strong buys. OTC (Over-The-Counter) trades, the almost only way to buy bitcoin with fiat in China, showing considerable $ premium (1 USDT = 7 CNY) over the official rate of 1 USD = 6.7 CNY. pic.twitter.com/bd0n0DGFVU

— cnLedger (@cnLedger) April 8, 2019

After a ban was placed on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading by Chinese government in September 2017, some local publications that include SCMP reported that a lot of Bitcoin investors are still actively trading the asset, bypassing placed restrictions via stablecoins, VPNs and OTC markets.

Stablecoin Premium Estimated High Demand for Bitcoin from Chinese Investors

According to official rates, 1 US Dollars (USD) is currently equivalent to around 6.72 Chinese Yuan (CNY), while 1 USDT worth around 7 CNY with a 4% premium on-over-counter (OTC) trading platforms and Asia-based exchanges like Huobi.

Due to the ban imposed on cryptocurrency trading in China, the only way for dedicated investors to trade cryptocurrencies is either via over-the-counter (OTC) or peer-to-peer (P2P) markets.

The clear rise in stablecoin premium implies that the demand for cryptocurrencies is generally overwhelming enough to cause the rates surge.

With the way things are going in China, it is possible the country rethink the ban on bitcoin or even make it a generally accepted asset  in the country.