Bitcoins were worth nothing in 2009, when the digital crypto-currency was first minted on the computer of its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who claimed to live in Japan. Four years later the value of one Bitcoin surpassed $1,100, thanks in large part to a surge in speculative interest from China. A little-known Shanghai company called BTC China met the demand and quickly became the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, with more than 100,000 of the virtual coins, or $100 million, traded on a single day, nearly double the market share of its closest competitor, Japan's Mt. Gox.
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