“After I first heard about the bitcoin scheme, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. It’s like buying a dream… Everyone says we can’t rely on Japanese pensions anymore… This worries me, so I started bitcoins.”
Bitcoin’s 150% surge since the beginning of the year has caught the attention of “Mrs. Watanabe, ” the metaphorical Japanese housewife investor, and a legion of South Korean retirees who’ re hoping to escape rock-bottom interest rates by investing in cryptocurrencies, according to Reuters.
Retail investors in Asia, many of whom are already regular investors in stock and futures markets, are turning to bitcoin in droves. Trading volume on Asia-based exchanges exploded following a Japanese law that officially designated bitcoin as legal currency. And now that the largest Chinese exchanges have reinstated customer withdrawals, the bitcoin market in China will likely stabilize, and the price will likely rise as a result.
Bitcoin was recently trading in South Korea at a $400 premium to its value on US-based exchanges, in part due to tough money-laundering rules that make it difficult to move bitcoin in and out of those markets, Reuters reports.
One of the retail traders interviewed by Reuters said she started with bitcoin because she’s worried she won’ t be able to rely on her pension.
” After I first heard about the bitcoin scheme, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. It’s like buying a dream, ” said Mutsuko Higo, a 55-year-old Japanese social insurance and labor consultant who bought around 200,000 yen ($1800) worth of bitcoin in March to supplement her retirement savings.”
” Everyone says we can’t rely on Japanese pensions anymore, ” she said. “This worries me, so I started bitcoins.”
Another trader noted that most South Korean buyers see bitcoin as an investment; few plan to use it for payments purposes.
The risks for these traders are high, Reuters says, alluding to the collapse of Mt. Gox, which led to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for its customers.
