The increasing interest in Bitcoin has got the community looking for ways to overcome the roadblocks set by government agencies. As regulatory issues affect conventional methods of buy and selling cryptocurrencies over established platforms, the community members seem to have migrated to peer-to-peer platforms like LocalBitcoins.
The market charts published by Coin Dance platform shows increasing Bitcoin trade volumes on LocalBitcoins. The surge in Bitcoin demand on the peer-to-peer trading platform appears to be driven by the recent developments in the Chinese cryptocurrency industry.
The region wise demand trend shows the cryptocurrency’s volumes surge to record levels in the Chinese market. The volumes in Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Mexico, Norway, and Venezuela have also exhibited similar trends. Out of all these markets, China, Mexico, and Venezuela hold a special significance.
The Chinese Bitcoin exchanges have recently frozen Bitcoin withdrawals from the platforms as they work on implementing new AML and compliance systems. The limited functionality on these exchanges has almost brought trading activity to a standstill. It is during these times the peer-to-peer exchanges score over centralized platforms like BTCC, OKCoin, Huobi and others. People have resorted to using LocalBitcoins to continue trading.
Similarly, amid the worst financial crisis, Venezuela has been cracking down on Bitcoin mining and exchange activities. SurBitcoin, a leading Venezuelan exchange recently suspended services after its banking partner decided to withdraw support. Mexico, on the other hand, seems to be preparing itself to face any unexpected executive orders by the US President Donald Trump that might affect remittances between the two nations.
President Trump has already hinted about a possible disruption of remittances along with increased import taxes between the United States and Mexico. As he plans to pressurize Mexico into sharing the costs of the controversial border wall between both countries, Mexicans are preparing to deal with any eventualities by adopting Bitcoin as an alternative.
These developments show that no matter what the governments do, Bitcoin can’t be completely taken off the equation. With no improvements in regulations at sight for the immediate future, the cryptocurrency trade volumes of LocalBitcoins is expected to go up further.
Ref: Coin Dance | Image: NewsBTC
