Bitcoin trade volume sees 50% jump in November

The trade volume of popular digital currency bitcoin hit a record 174.4 million in November, courtesy of Chinese traders that sought haven in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election.

According to bitcoin market Bitcoinity.org, November’s figure—worth $137 billion—was at least a 50 percent increase from the previous month’s trade volume of 148.6 million.

Chinese investors, concerned over the free falling Chinese yuan, are flying to safety. But many of them are evading government restrictions on directly buying dollars by taking a detour into digital currency, specifically bitcoin. The government has placed a $50,000 cap to  the amount of foreign currencies that Chinese residents can buy each year, but that restriction doesn’t apply to bitcoin purchases.

Dan Stanchfield, founder and chief executive officer of bitcoin wallet KeepKey, recently told Reuters that they’ve “been seeing lots of volume from China and also India.”