bitcoin surpasses XRP as the most held coin Japan

Looking at the data, as of July 31, 2019, bitcoin is the most held coin at Japanese exchanges, representing 52.11% of the customers’ crypto.

Back in February when we last looked at the data, XRP was the most held coin so it looks like XRP and bitcoin switched places.

Looking more closely at the data reveals a different narrative. 

Since January 2019, the price of bitcoin has been increasing against the JPY (an approximate 163% increase).

On the other hand, the price of XRP against BTC has been on a steadily decline during the same period. 

Therefore the main reason for the increase in the bitcoin balance held at crypto exchanges is due to the increase in the price of BTC combined with the decrease in price of XRP. 

Furthermore, upon closer examination of the data, one will notice that the quantity of BTC held at exchanges actually “decreased” during the period, while the quantity of XRP actually “increased”.

BTC: December 31, 2018 159,379 BTC vs July 31, 2019 149,129 BTC

XRP: December 31, 2018 2,527 M XRP vs July 31, 2019 2,783 M XRP

Other observations 

The amount of short positions against long positions on bitcoin has been decreasing, possibly reflecting a change in sentiment on bitcoin prices. 

The margin trading volume still represents the majority of the trading volume, though it has decreased in July. 

The reason for the decrease in margin trading volume is due the the enactment of the self regulation.

Before the self regulation came into effect, the Japanese exchanges were offering 25x leverage.

Under the newly enacted self regulation, leverage is limited to 4x.

We will continue to update the graphs as new stats are released

It will be interesting to see which cryptos gain popularity as the market matures.