On April 12, National Committee of Experts on the Internet Financial Security Technology (The Committee for short) released a report showing geographic distribution of Chinese bitcoin exchanges, trading volume and market share of trading volume from March 1 to March 31. No rules or regulations are mentioned in it.

Since its birth in 2009, bitcoin has been taking the lion’s share of the media. The market cap of bitcoin has surpassed＄19.3 billion with the emergence of a large and thriving bitcoin ecosystem. In 2016, the volume of trade on Chinese bitcoin exchanges amounted to 4.5 trillion yuan (＄652 billion), accounting for 90 percent of global trading transactions.

Here is the report.

Bitcoin Exchanges

As of March 31, there are 48 active exchanges and most of them are located in Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai, accounting for 44 percent, 27 percent and 11 percent respectively.

The Volume of Bitcoin Transactions

The volume of trade amounts to 8.145 billion yuan(＄1.18billion) in March, 1.823 billion yuan(＄264 million) less than that in February.

As you can see, trading volume on China’s bitcoin exchanges has plunged dramatically since February as a result of the implementation of transaction fees.

Market Share of Trading Volume

Four leading Chinese exchanges account for 80 percent of the total trading volume. Specifically, OkCoin takes up to 22.92 percent, BTCC 20.90 percent, Bichuang 17.76 percent and Huobi 17.20 percent.

Conclusion

Bitcoin exchanges represent an important part of the bitcoin ecosystem. However, one must be aware of any potential risks involved, such as price fluctuation, market manipulation, privacy leak and exchanges simply absconding with money.