Thailand Records Highest Ever Weekly Bitcoin Trading Volume on LocalBitcoins

After seeing the lowest Bitcoin traded volume in the first week of September in 2018 at 44 BTC on LocalBitcoins, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading platform, since then Thailand has been seeing a surge in this volume.

The past week saw a significant recording 417 BTC traded in volume which at the rate of $5,300 per BTC amounts to $2.2 million. In terms of Bitcoin traded, this volume is the highest since September 2016 while the peak has been recorded at 660 in July 2015.

But the last week, more notably saw the highest ever weekly volume in terms of its own fiat currency that is Thai Baht. The past week saw a huge amount of fiat coming into Bitcoin as 68,169,318 Thai Baht ($972,537 US Dollar) has been invested by Thailand people in Bitcoin in comparison to its all-time high of 50,244,737 Thai Baht ($716,866 US Dollar) in the first week of December 2017.

Source: Coin Dance

About this rising volume, Mati Greenspan, senior analyst at eToro stated,

“It makes sense that global money will take off first in places that see a large amount of international tourism.”

World Bank Cuts Growth Projection while Baht Weakens

One of the factors that played a role here is the falling value of Thailand's fiat currency. The best-performing currency of Asia in the first quarter has now starting to lose its momentum amidst a strengthening dollar, country’s political gridlock, and speculation around dividend-related fund outflows.

The baht went to the weakest level since early January as sentiments for the fiat currency has deteriorated as concerns about political stability persist after the nation held its first general election in March.

“As for domestic factors, we have hiccups in the political landscape and also have some of the impact from the dividend season”

which contributed to a weaker baht, said Roong Sanguanruang, a market analyst at Bank of Ayudhya Pcl in Bangkok.

However, it is believed the decline should be limited as

“the fundamentals are still looking sound if you look at the external position of Thailand.”

Moreover, the World Bank cut down Thailand’s growth rate projection to 3.8 percent. The resilient growth of the region through further moves towards poverty reduction, which is already at historic lows, Victoria Kwka, World Bank President East Asia and Pacific said at the same time, half a billion people remain economically insecure,

“at risk of falling back into poverty.”