Like any pioneering invention, Bitcoin is taking a while to capture the mass market’s attention. But for early adopters, it’s becoming their hedge against politically-inspired uncertainty, especially in nerve-jangling South Africa. Last week, when President Jacob Zuma tightened his grip on the country’s levers of power, the value of the untraceable, anonymous and globally transferrable Bitcoin jumped 21% in Rand terms. The cryptocurrency is being increasingly embraced around the world as a store of value by people suspicious at the motives and actions of those who control fiat currencies. The rational approach for the rest of mankind is, at the very least, to investigate why these pioneers find them so appealing. – Alec Hogg
By Gareth van Zyl, Fin24
Johannesburg – Demand for cryptocurrency Bitcoin has soared in the last week with prices surging just over 20% on South African linked exchange BitX.
The price of a Bitcoin on BitX has risen from R7 443 at 14:00 on May 26 to R8 998 at 10:00 on Thursday June 2. A collection of bitcoins stand in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg South African founded but Singapore headquartered BitX offers a Bitcoin wallet service that allows users to buy and sell Bitcoins.
BitX also operates exchanges for the cryptocurrency in several countries that include South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Nigeria and Indonesia.
Business development lead at BitX, Werner van Rooyen, explained to Fin24 this week that Bitcoin – like any other product, currency or commodity – is driven by demand and supply.
“On the demand side, there has been a large increase in Bitcoin transactions on the Chinese yuan denominated (CNY) Bitcoin exchanges over the past few days, which has played a role in pushing up the price there,” said van Rooyen. Read also: Bloomberg View: […]
