Sun Minjie, a 28-year-old Internet worker who lives in Beijing, has invested more than $3,000 in 796 Xchange, a website where people buy and sell shares of companies that deal in Bitcoins, the digital currency. The stock of 796 Xchange, which also deals in Bitcoin futures, returned about 57 percent from Aug. 1, when it started trading on the company’s website, through Sept. 3. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained about 4.6 percent during the same period. “In China, the stock market, property, and bond market are all not so good, so people get really excited when they hear of a new investment that generates high returns,” says Peter Pak, head of trading at BOCI Securities in Hong Kong.
In May, China briefly overtook the U.S. in monthly creation of Bitcoins, rising from seventh place in August last year. China now ranks second, according to SourceForge, a technology website that tracks Bitcoin activity worldwide. Created four years ago by a person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be used to buy and sell a growing range of goods and services online—from cupcakes to electronics to illegal narcotics.
