Recently, Binance announced that its peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading platform in China will be open to using WeChat and Alipay. The announcement was met with controversy, with Alipay specifically responding by denying that its payment service can be used to buy and sell Bitcoin. As previously reported on BeInCrypto, both WeChat and Alipay have denied working with any cryptocurrency-related merchant.

Bitcoin-Yuan Paxful Volume Surging

The spike in Chinese trading volume on Paxful tells a different story from the one we’ve been hearing for the past few weeks. There, too, users can trade Bitcoin peer-to-peer; the platform heavily relies on Wechat and Alipay for its trades with the Chinese yuan.

The trading volume on BTC/CNY has been rising steadily all year and, in fact, recently even hit a new all-time high of ¥10M for this past week.

The increase is staggering. The last major spike of this kind was in late 2017 — but the current spike is more sustained and far larger.

The increase in Chinese P2P trading volume could be an indicator that a growing number of Chinese investors are growing frustrated at the lack of exchanges for BTC trading. As a result, many have turned to P2P platforms in growing numbers.

‘Somethings Are Better Left Unsaid’

WeChat and Alipay may have called out Binance — but the fact remains that their payment services are used for cryptocurrency trades in China. For example:

• HodlHodl: BTC/CNY using Alipay.
• LocalBitcoins: BTC/CNY using Alipay and WeChat.
• CoinCola: BTC/CNY using Alipay and WeChat.
• CoinCola: BTC/CNY and BTC/HKD using Alipay and WeChat.

There are so many more examples. Altogether, it seems clear that Alipay and WeChat recently called out Binance due to these little-known P2P markets now receiving too much attention.

With Paxful exploding past all-time highs, it seems that interest in Bitcoin remains strong in China. Considering that neither Alipay nor WeChat can effectively stop the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies peer-to-peer, all of this appears to be just a PR bluster. When we look at the actual metrics, Chinese cryptocurrency investors aren’t dismayed — in fact, they’re now using these P2P cryptocurrency trading services more than ever.

Do you think that WeChat and Alipay will crackdown on P2P cryptocurrency trading which uses its payment apps? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

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