The price of Bitcoin hit a three-year high to surpass the 5,300 yuan ($770) mark yesterday, as investors turned to the virtual currency as an investment alternative amid global economic uncertainties and issues such as Brexit and the weakening yuan.
China's central bank is also pressing ahead with moves to develop its own sovereign digital currency using blockchain technology, which is seen as a factor in fueling confidence in Bitcoin. But the price remains well below the 8,000 peak in 2013.
The price of Bitcoin was 5,340 yuan at 6pm yesterday, after an intraday high of 5,425.
Transactions totaled 164.6 billion yuan in the 16 trading days through Wednesday — a 193 percent increase over the same period last month, said Huobi.com, one of the Chinese Bitcoin trading platforms. China is the world's biggest Bitcoin trading region, with about 80 percent of global volume.
The yuan's depreciation and uncertainty about the global environment — especially the U.S. political situation, the demonetarization crisis in India and Brexit — have pushed investors to Bitcoin, said Zhu Jiawei, chief operating officer of Huobi.com.
