Over the past few months,

the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market led an upward momentum for the global Bitcoin exchange market, continuously pushing Bitcoin price to new highs. In a period of 30 days, Bitcoin price increased from $1,200 to $1,760, recording a 32 percent monthly increase in value. Cointelegraph particularly provided extensive coverage of the Japanese exchange market’s overwhelming performance and influence over the global exchange. The demand toward Bitcoin in Japan significantly increased following the legalization of Bitcoin and the acceptance of Bitcoin payments by the country’s single most influential electronics retailer Bic Camera. Also, some of the largest multi-billion dollar corporations have announced the launch of their independent Bitcoin and digital currency exchanges.

Absence of fees raises concerns

One criticism over Bitcoin’s recent price surge has been the absence of fees in the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market. Some analysts suspected that the Japanese exchange market’s decision to exclude fees could have a similar effect the Chinese Bitcoin exchange had on the global exchange market. In an interview, Japan’s two largest Bitcoin exchanges QUOINE and BitFlyer clarified that the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market does in fact have fees in place. Yuzo Kano, the CEO of BitFlyer, the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange which controls over 67 percent of the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market share

stated:

“We charge trading fees for BTC and ‘swap point’ for FX. So it’s a different situation from China before this January. We are seeing funds inflowing not only to BTC but also all crypto markets.”

Mike Kayamori, CEO of QUOINE, which also controls around 10 percent of the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market share further emphasized that fees are charged for all traders other than spot trading of BTC/JPY. Thus, the claims of analysts that there currently is instability in Bitcoin price due to the low fees or absence of fees on Japanese Bitcoin exchange market are false.

Kayamori says:

“At QUOINE, we are charging fees on all trades other than spot trading of BTC/JPY. Every other currency pair, as well as margin trading, there is a fee. And our spreads are quite large, hence our volume is actually lower in April/May than it was March.”

Bitcoin as an alternative investment

Jon Southurst, a journalist based in Tokyo, noted that high profile and institutional investors along with casual traders are seeking out for alternative investments such as Bitcoin due to the government’s quantitative easing practice. On April 24, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin price could surge as the Japanese government moved on to print massive amounts of cash. At the time, Holger Zschaepitz, the senior editor of the financial desk and market maniac at

Welt, stated:

“For such reasons, it can be concluded that the current surge in Bitcoin price and the rising demand toward Bitcoin in Japan are well supported and justified.”

As the 24-hour transaction volume of the top digital currency Bitcoin

reached a historical high of $1.3 bln this week, the days of altcoins that solve no substantial problem may soon be over – or tested to a point of failure. The rising Bitcoin price which seldom reflects negatively on most alternative currencies is going to tell on their success. For those who have noticed, the more Bitcoin rises, the lowermost altcoins go – even the super altcoins. This could be as a result of the established fact that one has to buy Bitcoin to get into altcoins and vice versa to opt out. Or it could be as a result of a reduced confidence in what some – if not most – of these altcoins have to offer. There are also words of some being scams and others being clones of another or serving the same purpose with another.

Time for altcoins show what they are worth

Whatever is the case of every altcoin, what they really stand for would be tested in due course unless the rise of Bitcoin gets stalled. Their existence could be affected negatively unless they evolve to be a true representation of their initial ideas and market more to show off their achievements. New ideas are popping up every day and some would definitely become obsolete. The thought that the market decides really needs to be given consideration now especially as there is a growing notion that an altcoin bubble is in the making and it could pop at some point. Bitcoin’s rise is setting a standard that altcoins need to rise up to so as to wax stronger as well.

Bitcoin’s superiority

The reality of each and every passing year that Bitcoin has survived without being crushed to the ground- some investors report huge returns on their investments along the way- is sinking into the minds of more people. The confidence level in the currency has risen and new users are coming into the cryptocurrency world. It’s truly decentralized nature also makes its extremely difficult for its protocol to be changed by anyone or some developers unlike it’s the case with some altcoins – a good side to the SegWit/scalability standoff. Now aiming for the $2,000 price tag, the Bitcoin scarcity factor seems to be kicking in and pushing for demands that increase its value – remember last year’s block reward halving. It throws a greater challenge to altcoins and their need to brace up for what could be coming.

From one first to the next,

Japan will soon offer Bitcoin users fixed term deposits with interest. The Financial Services Agency has yet to push for regulation as it watches from the sidelines of what could seriously challenge the traditional banks fixed term deposits. Asian Nikkei reports that digital currency users and traders will soon be able to earn interest from the exchange. This fixed deposit interest accruing account is the first of its kind being made available in Japan.

Four fixed deposit options

Coincheck, founded by Koichiro Wada and Yusuke Otsuka has operated as an exchange since 2014 exchanging up to $160 mln worth of transactions per month. Its track record helps build credibility for clients interested in the interest accruing accounts that will be rolled out. The company will roll out four fixed deposit options. A 14-day option with a one percent annual interest accrual, 30-day option with a two percent annual accrual and a 90-day option with three annual percent interest. The longest time deposit and highest interest accrual will be for a 12 month fixed deposit netting five percent interest gain. This can prove a popular option as traditional banks in Japan moved their interest rates to 0.00 percent earlier this year.

Impact on demand for Bitcoin

Japan’s Financial Services Agency declared that the deposits are exempt from banking regulations as Bitcoin is not yet legal tender. There is speculation that they might change their stance on regulation if Bitcoin becomes a widespread method of payment. With multiple parties applying for exchange licenses to operate in Japan, it is likely that competing exchanges will offer the same value-added benefit to their customers. The scaling adoption of Bitcoin as a means of payment in physical stores drove up the price of the currency to record highs. If digital currency deposits succeed as fixed deposit accounts, there is no doubt that the demand will rise even further.

Now that the Litecoin price is hovering at around $30

– as the Lightning Network, expected to make transactions faster on the network, is set to kick off in about two days – is it time for the digital currency, dubbed as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, to aim for the $50 goal? As it stands, its market cap has crossed the $1 bln mark to join the three other major networks – Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple –

In the category.

"This is a huge plus for the currency which just got listed on top Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb. This comes in the wake of its addition on the Coinbase platform also last week."

If Litecoin succeeds with the SegWit activation and LN implementation – considering that Bitcoin has not been able to reach this far in terms of its scalability issue – it would definitely reflect in LTC price in the coming days. As such, wallet providers and other major users are expected to deploy SegWit-enabled apps.

"Litecoin’s Charlie Lee also confirms that Bitcoin Core developers have been working with his network on Confidential Transactions (CT) and Merkelized Abstract Syntax Trees (MAST)."

As it is expected to take the first mover advantage as one of the first to activate SegWit, all eyes would be on Litecoin and what it has to offer in terms of making transaction confirmation quicker. This will continue to be the case for as long as Litecoin serves as a relief to any transaction issues that are usually associated with Bitcoin. This will make it easier to send money from a point to another instantly and for less.

Upgrade important

The current issue of transaction delays on the Bitcoin network and rising transaction fees now seem stuck at the moment and some say it is no longer seen as an incentive to encourage new users to switch from fiat. Though not the first and only network to be working on activating SegWit, the upgrade is important for Litecoin because it is one of those networks with the oldest Blockchain beside Bitcoin. It also has an identical code to that of Bitcoin. However, despite the forward-looking consideration of how Litecoin is going to benefit users, we are yet to see it proven that people in the market really need what it has to offer. The debate on whether there is demand for its use continues.