Jeremy Allaire – the CEO of stable coin issuer Circle – says that with bitcoin and Ethereum exploding in price as of late, he thinks countries like China – as well as many other Asian nations – are going to up their bitcoin demands and permit crypto mining like never before.
Jeremy Allaire Thinks China Will Again Be a BTC Haven
In a recent interview, Allaire said:
Hong Kong is clearly looking to establish itself as a very significant center for digital asset markets and stable coins, and we are paying very close attention to that. We see enormous demand for digital dollars in emerging markets and Asia is really the center of that.
This would indeed be quite a feat considering China – which was once home to most of the world’s crypto mining facilities – announced it was going to make all mining and trading of crypto illegal in mid-2021. The news came by way of Beijing, which stated that it wanted to ensure the country could remain “green” and lower its energy use. Allaire continued with:
What’s happening in Hong Kong may be a proxy for ultimately how these markets grow in greater China.
Regions like Hong Kong have gotten bitten by the crypto bug. It was announced at the end of June, for example, that Hong Kong’s largest bank HSBC Hong Kong began allowing customers to begin trading in bitcoin and Ethereum-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Crypto journalist Colin Wu explained:
The move will expand local users’ exposure to cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong.
In addition, Allaire believes that the day where a bitcoin ETF gets approved in the U.S. is closer than everyone thinks, and the path is being led by BlackRock, which is arguably one of the biggest traditional financial companies in the country. This sentiment was echoed by Katharine Wooler, a director at the crypto security company Coin Cover. She said:
The crypto market is proving remarkably resilient in light of recent SEC announcements, with bitcoin seeing a 13 percent rally in the last week. The 30-day low has now seen prices rise from $25,000 to $31,395, with bitcoin dominance at a high for the year as traders pursue a flight to quality. For long-term holders, bad news from a regulator is far from unusual, and the U.S. is only a small market for a truly global asset. With proper protection for digital assets and regulatory frameworks being established in [several] jurisdictions, reputable crypto is firmly in ‘business as usual’ territory.
Rising Through the Ranks
About six weeks ago, bitcoin rose to its highest point since April of this year and again surged beyond the $30K level.
This was preceded by varying degrees of healing throughout the year. There’s still quite a way to go given how bearish 2022 was.
