Despite the Xi Jinping government’s hardline stance against cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin BTC/USD continues to gain traction on Chinese social media platforms.
What Happened: The rising interest in Bitcoin on Chinese social media platforms is indicative of a thriving community of cryptocurrency enthusiasts in mainland China, undeterred by Beijing’s strict opposition to all crypto-related activities, reported South China Morning Post.
On Wednesday, Bitcoin ranked as the 11th most-searched term on Weibo, a microblogging service. Similarly, its popularity on the super app WeChat skyrocketed over 358% from the previous day, as stated by Tencent Holdings’ official WeChat Index. The index monitors keyword traction across in-app search, videos, live streams, and blog posts.
As per a January report by Reuters, cryptocurrencies have become an attractive investment for some mainland residents, particularly as the country’s stock market continues to grapple with economic difficulties.
This comes as the price of Bitcoin rallied over 10% to reach a new high for 2024, hitting $64,000 on Feb. 28.
Why It Matters: Despite the government’s intensified scrutiny of all crypto-related activities, citing risks to financial stability, mainland China ranked 11th in Chainalysis’ ranking of cryptocurrency adoption in 20 major countries last year. This is a slight drop from its 10th place in 2022.
While mainland China’s trading volume on centralized crypto exchanges fell to the 10th spot last year from second in 2022, the country ranked 13th in peer-to-peer trading volume, a significant rise from its 144th position in 2022.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $61,759, up 8.22% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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