The core driving force behind this wave of Bitcoin craze: Japanese speculators with 15 times high leverage?

Chinese and Russians have been repeatedly suspected of being the main drivers of Bitcoin's 10-fold surge this year. However, this is not the case, and the market should pay more attention to the Japanese.

According to the New York Times, Yuzo Kano, CEO of bitFlyer, the world's largest Bitcoin trading platform, recently said that the Japanese investment philosophy has always been conservative, but once they are triggered, they will bet everything, especially on Bitcoin investment.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Kano Yuzo said that Japanese speculators rushed into exchanges to buy Bitcoin, and many used up to 15 times leverage. As many as 75% of participants on this trading platform bought Bitcoin derivatives.

High leverage means high risk. The Bitcoin market has seen roller coaster market conditions frequently, and high-leverage speculators are prone to liquidation. After Thanksgiving, Bitcoin was crazier than ever before. It took less than ten hours for the price to rise from $14,000 to $15,000. On December 7, the price of the Coinbase trading platform soared by $2,000 in just over ten minutes, breaking the record of $19,700, and then fell sharply back to $15,000.

A Coinbase spokesperson said at the time that price fluctuations of up to 20% in just a few hours were not unusual for a digital currency, and that other trading platforms experienced similar price fluctuations.

According to the former high-rise stock derivatives and convertible bond trader, the trading volume of his exchange accounts for 80% of the total Bitcoin trading volume in Japan; its share worldwide is about 20%-30%, and the market depth is enough to be responsible for the most drastic market changes. The number of active users of the trading platform quickly climbed to 800,000 in mid-October.

According to data provided by cryptocompare, a Bitcoin information and statistics website, Bitcoin transactions denominated in Japanese yen account for about 40% of the global market, Bitcoin transactions denominated in US dollars account for about 30%, and Bitcoin transactions denominated in Korean won account for less than 8%. Obviously, demand from Asia is an important driving force behind the surge in Bitcoin prices, and the combined transaction volume of Japan and South Korea accounts for half of the global market share.

And huge amounts of buying capital can easily push up prices in a Bitcoin market with relatively limited supply.

Crazy Asian buyers

Kano Yuzo said that some of the Japanese bitcoin players on his exchange are buy-and-hold buyers, or more accurately, they are buyers who buy and then continue to increase their positions. The exchange is also active with some overseas hedge funds and arbitrageurs.

Although the Korean won accounts for a small proportion of Bitcoin transactions, Koreans are equally enthusiastic about Bitcoin. Tony Lyu, founder and CEO of the Korean digital cryptocurrency exchange Korbit, said not long ago that this investment topic spread very quickly in Korea. Once people start investing, they hope that everyone can join in and party together, further pushing up the price. The scale of virtual currency investment in Korea has always been large, and it is basically a community investment.

In fact, American buyers are not to be outdone, and "leeks" are also rushing into the market. Wall Street News mentioned that 70-year-old new Bitcoin buyer Rita Scott sold her Bitcoin with the help of her grandson, and earned a 45% return in just a few weeks. Before that, she didn't know what Bitcoin was, and thought it was a coin. Someone said that when he was at a community Thanksgiving dinner, everyone he knew was talking about Bitcoin. (For details, see "Behind the Bitcoin Rush: American "Leeks" are rushing into the market, and the 70-year-old buyer doesn't know what it is")

The New York Times article stated that given the rapid development of the Bitcoin markets in Japan and South Korea, well-known investors and analysts believe that in the medium and short term, the price of Bitcoin will depend on the performance of these two markets.

Why are the Japanese so keen?

While many countries around the world are wary of Bitcoin, the Japanese government and companies are doing the opposite and showing a welcoming attitude.

Starting from July this year, the 8% consumption tax will no longer be levied on the purchase of Bitcoin in Japan. In April this year, two Bic Camera shopping malls began to accept Bitcoin. Users who use Bitcoin for payment also enjoy the benefit of not having to pay foreign exchange fees.

Now, the bitcoin derivatives market has a new member - CBOE's bitcoin futures, which officially went public on Sunday night (early morning of December 11th, Beijing time).

The quotation system showed that the Bitcoin futures 1801 contract opened at $15,000, with the highest intraday increase reaching 11%.

However, the website seems to have problems. COBE's official website stated that the website encountered heavy traffic load, the opening speed was slower than normal, and the trading system was normal.