Three of China's biggest virtual currency Bitcoin (BTC) trading platforms, Huobi, OkCoin and BTC China, have announced that investors will be charged transaction fees, accounting for 0.2 percent of the transaction volumes, starting from 12 a.m. on January 24.
A two-way charging scheme will be adopted, which means BTC investors need to pay transaction fees for both buying and selling BTC, reports Shanghai Securities News.
For now, transaction volumes on the three Chinese BTC trading platforms account for 80 percent of the world's total for a significant time period.
Unlike stock, Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency and a payment system, can be traded on platforms at any time between users directly. Users even can invest in BTC with just a hundred yuan.
After the news of the new transaction fees went public, the Bitcoin price fell to around 6,300 yuan ($919) per Bitcoin from the previous 6,500 yuan ($948) per Bitcoin as of January 24th on the three trading platforms.
"The one-way charge for stock transaction fee only accounts for 0.05 percent of transaction volume, why is it 0.02 percent for Bitcoin's two-way charges? I think I will stop my investment in it," an investor told Shanghai Securities News.
Before, the quantitative trading made by a computer on the three platforms made up 80 percent of their totals as a result of the free services. "We will be charged 0.4 percent of our transaction volumes as service fees, it costs too much. Cross platform price spread arbitrage also becomes unavailable," says a director of a group focusing on quantitative trading strategies.
To some extent, charging BTC transaction fees, as well as de-leveraging, indicates a much clearer intent of China's central bank The People's Bank of China to protect the rights and interests of investors, as Shanghai Securities News reported.
