Ethereum is gaining traction in Asia as traders begin swapping bitcoin for ether. Gatecoin, a Hong Kong-based exchange focused on cryptocurrency and digital assets, has witnessed a sharp rise in new s
Ethereum is gaining traction in Asia as traders begin swapping bitcoin for ether. Gatecoin, a Hong Kong-based exchange focused on cryptocurrency and digital assets, has witnessed a sharp rise in new signups originating from Japan and China. Aurélien Menant, who co-founded the platform and serves as CEO, sees the region developing into a key hub for ether trading.
The numbers tell the story. "We've seen growing interest among traders in China and Japan especially, with 225% of new users to our platform coming from these markets and a significant share of users based in Asia converting their bitcoins into ether," Menant said in an interview. "As interest in projects built on the Ethereum ecosystem maintains momentum, and investors see the long term potential of such projects, we believe Asia will be a key market for ETH trading."
Two elements are driving the surge. Ether's price climbed throughout the first months of 2016, drawing attention from mainstream media outlets. Publications in Japan and China have been running coverage of Ethereum. Menant noted the contrast with bitcoin's market trajectory: "As Ethereum's visibility increases, and escapes any negative associations, which was the problem with bitcoin from the beginning, there should be continued enthusiasm from investors."
Grassroots momentum is building from the ground up. Communities across China and Japan have launched websites, forums and meetup groups dedicated to Ethereum and its applications. These efforts are expanding awareness of the technology.
Gatecoin's own strategy focuses on establishing itself as a specialist in smart contracts and decentralized applications. The exchange stands as the sole venue offering trading in Augur's REP token. Augur is an open-source, decentralized prediction market that remains in beta testing phase.
Despite thin liquidity stemming from Gatecoin's current inability to process deposits, REP trading has shown strong momentum. "We see ongoing eagerness among traders," Menant said. "As the Augur beta test has also been performing well, we're very excited about the full release as are many of our REP traders."
Traders on Reddit and Slack have been pressing for expanded access. "There is also a very active community of REP traders on Reddit and Slack, and we acknowledge their demands for more inbound REP deposits on our platform," Menant stated. "We're currently looking to find a best practice interim solution prior to the full Augur release. In the meantime we recommend REP traders to stay patient."
Gatecoin is collaborating with Slock.it, a German startup working in blockchain and Internet of Things applications, to list its tokens once a token sale is confirmed. Menant expressed bullish views on Ethereum's wider ecosystem. "We are very confident in the potential of Ethereum and bullish about the prospects of ether as an asset in the long run," he said. "We are closely following serious dapps projects being built on top of Ethereum such as Augur, Slock.it and Digix, and we plan to integrate all that we determine to be relevant for our exchange. We have a very ambitious plan of services linked to those dapps, but it is still too early to disclose it."
