Last month, the Japanese government recognized bitcoin as legal tender. Since then Bitcoin is booming in the country! Many retailers began to accept the digital currency as a form of payment. From one of the country’s biggest electronics retailers, Bic Camera, to Japanese low-cost airline Peach. According to the latest news it is expected that hundreds of thousands of Japanese retail outlets are beginning to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment soon.
Meanwhile, South Korea has become one of the largest Bitcoin exchange markets in the world while the weekly volume on LocalBitcoins.com in China skyrocketed to a new record.
I've summarized the latest Bitcoin news from Japan, South Korea and China below.
Japan
Peach becomes first Japanese airline to accept bitcoin
Peach Aviation, the low-cost Japanese carrier specialising in flights to north-east Asia, will become the country’s first airline to allow customers to pay directly for tickets using bitcoin.
Read more: Financial Times
Japan’s Bitpoint to Add Bitcoin Payments to 100,000+ Stores
Bitpoint has recently partnered with Peach Aviation to provide bitcoin payment tech to the company, and now plans to do the same at “hundreds of thousands of Japanese retail outlets.”
Read more: Bitcoin.com
Japan's BITPoint is planning to give 100,000+ retail outlets the ability to accept bitcoin
BITPoint Japan Co., the company behind Peach Aviation Ltd.’s move to let travelers use bitcoin to pay for tickets, is planning to give hundreds of thousands of Japanese retail outlets the ability to accept the digital currency.
Read more: Bloomberg
South Korea
Japan, South Korea drive global bitcoin prices as retail investor pile in
Japanese and South Korean buying helped drive the price of bitcoin to an all-time high this week, with the digital currency more than doubling its value since the start of the year, analysts and market practitioners said on Friday.
Read more: Reuters
South Korea is Becoming Bitcoin and Ethereum Powerhouse
South Korea is becoming a Bitcoin and Ethereum powerhouse in terms of trading volumes, liquidity and activity.
Read more: Cointelegraph
China
The weekly volume on LocalBitcoins.com in China skyrocketed to over 100 million Chinese Yuan ($14.6 million US Dollar) last week.
The number of people searching for "Buy Bitcoin" on Google.
Source: Google Trends