Popularity and the use of different cryptocurrencies vary from nation to nation. Although digital assets are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of the development of CBDCs, assets such as Bitcoin , Ethereum, XRP, etc. continue to attract multiple users around the globe.
China has been closely involved in the ecosystem over the last decade, and the Asian powerhouse is currently extremely close to launching its owner, Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP).
However, after a recent ban, the nation was vocally opposed to the use of popular digital assets, leading to the termination of various spot exchanges. Despite the ban, the country still has active over-the-counter [OTC] trading, and many people in the country are following the crypto with great interest. Their interest is mainly focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum, like users in most countries.
Bitcoin
A recent article by Longhash indicated that Bitcoin is still the world market leader in China, just like everywhere else in the world. Involved in 65 percent of the global bitcoin hashrate, BTC mining is still highly concentrated in the region.
After the 2017 bull run, Chinese investors turned their heads to OTC trading, but Chinese President XI Jinping repeatedly emphasized the importance of blockchain more than Bitcoin. Earlier reports also indicated that Bitcoin had a high search density on Baidu ‘s Chinese search engine prior to Bitcoin’s 3rd halving.
Ethereum
For Ethereum, the interest lied in a completely different sector even though the asset was the 2nd largest crypto in the world. The initial form of connection between Ethereum and China came from Vitalik Buterin’s involvement with Wanxiang Blockchain Lab’s Feng Xiao and Fenbushi Capital’s Bo Shen.
Since then, Vitalik has been to China extensively and the Co-founder was able to amass a significant amount of attention towards Ethereum. The interest is evident as the countries Blockchain Service Network(BSN) would be incorporating both Ethereum and EOS in the future.
XRP
XRP ‘s popularity in China was evidently improved by Ripple ‘s early technical architecture. Justin Sun ‘s influence also worked in favor of Ripple, as Sun was Ripple ‘s chief representative in China from 2013 to 2016 before launching TRON in 2018.
Although Ripple was initially set up to target the cross-border payment market and large transactions between financial institutions, the majority of Ripple users in China have become huge XRP holders rather than part of Ripple ‘s system. Eventually, Ripple’s attempt to build a B2B system in China failed due to a relatively limited financial structure.
Although XRP continues to be popular in the country, Ripple ‘s ambition to target B2B applications continues to hit the death spiral.
Litecoin
Litecoin has not been able to pick up pace in the Chinese market since its early year anticipation. Its PoW nature has been identified as one of the main reasons for attracting crypto miners and also dragging LTC users.
Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin, continues to receive a relatively positive reception in the Chinese market compared to other founders of altcoins. Lee has a Weibo account (Facebook Chinese equivalent) with more than 20,000 followers. Over time, Litcoin’s popularity as an asset has decreased, but the mining area has remained active, with the landscape dominated by old LTC miners.
TRON
Due to Justin Sun’s presence as the leader of TRON, the popularity of the organization is massive in China. Although its presence in China did not translate into huge market returns, Tron is currently the most well-placed blockchain project in China in terms of recognition.
TRON also has three official QQ groups, each with 1,000 participants. TRON’s WeChat Public Account is updated every day at 12 a.m. with several announcements every day. TRON has also set up an exclusive WeChat group for holders of more than 100,000 TRX.