Bitcoin breaks through $1,200 again! Japan helped a lot this time

Over the past two days, the average price of Bitcoin in U.S. dollars has stabilized at $1,215, mainly due to the increased use of Bitcoin in Japan.

On April Fools' Day, April 1, 2017, the Bitcoin legalization bill drafted by the Japanese government's Financial System Committee came into effect on that day, officially recognizing Bitcoin as a legal payment method. As a result, various companies began to integrate Bitcoin payments and add Bitcoin as a payment option for consumers.

Most notably, Bic Camera, one of Japan’s largest electronics retailers, announced a partnership with BitFlyer, one of Japan’s largest Bitcoin exchanges, to allow consumers across Japan to use Bitcoin to purchase electronics. 260,000 stores in Japan will accept Bitcoin payments.

Bic Camera’s support for Bitcoin and generally positive media coverage have fueled demand for Bitcoin among traders and investors.

The increase in demand for Bitcoin has further pushed up the trading volume of Japanese Bitcoin exchanges, establishing Japan as the most advantageous Bitcoin exchange market in the world.

Japan now controls more than 43% of the global Bitcoin exchange market. This basically means that Japan’s market share or trading volume is greater than that of the United States, Europe, and China combined.

Bitcoin Scaling: SegWit vs. BU

In the foreseeable future, SegWit will most likely benefit from the current developments and continue on the path to activation as the market looks bullish on SegWit. According to various sources, including Coin Dance, 70% of businesses and companies in the Bitcoin industry support the activation of SegWit.

In terms of node distribution, Bitcoin nodes supporting SegWit have an overwhelming advantage over those supporting BU. Currently, 83.2% of Bitcoin nodes are signaling support for Bitcoin Core, with the rest supporting BU, XT, and others.

Currently, the most obvious is that Chinese mining pools, including Ant Pool and ViaBTC, are actively promoting the hard fork to activate BU. In fact, according to Coinbase data, about 36% of the Bitcoin mining network hashrate supports BU. On April 11, 45.1% of the blocks supported BU.

The Bitcoin scaling debate is an important discussion that follows Bitcoin’s short-term and medium-term price predictions. While certain events and factors, such as the explosive growth of the Japanese Bitcoin market, are pushing Bitcoin above $1,200, analysts explain that for Bitcoin to hit new highs in the $2,000-$3,000 range, a scaling solution must be finalized.

If the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market and industry continue to outperform other regions and maintain this trend, then the Bitcoin price may remain relatively stable around $1,200 in the near future.