The JPY (Japanese Yen) and the USD (US Dollar) are the top 2 dominant currencies that are used in trading Bitcoin through fiat money. The USD was always the dominant force in the market but BTC/JPY might soon overtake the US Dollar.
The US Dollar is obviously the main global currency used in trading and business. It is also the dominant currency seen in Forex trading. With this in mind, it is definitely not a surprise to see BTC/USD as the common trading pair in the cryptocurrency market.
Based on the analysis done by Coinhills, out of all BTC/fiat trades, 48% is made out of BTC/USD right now. JPY is a strong second, making up 47.23% of the whole number of transactions in the exact same trading period as BTC/USD. BTC/USD is also very strong because of the pegging to USD from Tether, the most popular of all market stablecoins.
What is highly interesting is that JPY is constantly gaining popularity among traders. Cryptocompare previously reported a 50% market domination for the US Dollar in the BTC to fiat market. JPY was just 21% at that point in time. This is the statistic that covers November 2018.
Last week we saw a report by Bitcoinist stating that Asian markets have a higher BTC price impact than Europe and the US. The claim was made thanks to research done by Mosaic research firm. In the event that this trend holds, the country of Japan can end up being a huge competitor for the USD. This is, in part, because of the crypto-friendly laws we see in Japan, together with the growth of BTC commerce. There are major retailers that now accept BTC even in brick and mortar stores.
When looking at the rest of BTC/fiat trading, the next in line after USD and JPY is KRW (Korean Won). It makes up 2% of trading. Data now suggests that there is a trading activity cooling off in Korea.
Other fiats that are lesser traded include EUR, PLN and RUB. These all make up 1.35%, 0.15% and 0.11%, respectively.
