Satoshi Specials.

While bitcoin has lost two-thirds of its value since its December zenith, fervour for the tempestuous little digital nuggets remains strong; at least according to volumes traded on Singapore-based exchange BitForex, which regularly sees daily transaction volumes above US$5 billion. Five-billon! That’s a figure approaching the average turnover of all trades on the London Stock Exchange.

Curiously, BitForex boasts what is easily the highest trading volume among over 200 crypto venues (tracked by CoinMarketCap.com), but its website traffic amounts to a tiny fraction of most peers according to the Bloomberg. So, what is the trick? It’s transaction fee mining: a mechanism by which active traders receive a rebate in excess of the exchange fees, which allows traders to make money by engaging in the affectionately named ‘wash sales’.

Last week (on the same day Bloomberg reported it) BitForex announced it will cease the practice.

Crypto prices may be bathing, and trading volumes may be coming under scrutiny, but the industry is hardly beating a retreat. According to real estate firm Colliers, crypto-focused companies have leased an aggregate 7,000 square meters of Hong Kong grade-A office space, representing 15% of all prime Hong Kong real estate signed in 2018. Colliers points out that the new tenants all signed their leases after the January peak in bitcoin.

While the crypto firms advance, some familiar names withdraw from the world’s most expensive office market: BNP Paribas, J.P Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, have all relocated (at least in part) from Hong Kong central to less expensive parts of the city. Sounds pretty reassuring.

As is frequently the case in investing: if you cannot be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped.