One week ago today, rumors began to hit the market of Chinese payment processors no longer being able to serve bitcoin exchanges. BTC China and OKCoin, the leading XBT / CNY exchanges by volume for much of the past few months, also reinstated trading fees on the same day. Those factors combined have led to reduced trading volume at those exchanges, as well as a glimpse into why bitcoin companies have attracted so much venture capital in 2013. On September 24, BTC China temporarily removed trading fees from their exchange. Bitcoin’s popularity in China ballooned dramatically shortly thereafter as other Chinese exchanges matched the free trading offer. Over the following months, cumulative daily XBT/CNY trading volume across exchanges increased from approximately 6,000 XBT to 200,000 XBT by early December. Free trading offered an opportunity for market participants to frictionlessly test trading strategies and execute high-frequency algorithms. In addition to driving up volume, it may have also contributed to increased volatility, as indicated in a recent post by BTC China CEO...