Mapping Bitcoin - NYTimes.com Bitcoin, the popular Internet currency, is on the map in more ways than one. You can watch it trading across the globe, and possibly draw some intriguing conclusions about where this fast-moving digital money is going. For the last week, a site called fiatleak has offered a map that its creator says draws information from all the major online bitcoin exchanges, like Mt. Gox and BTC-e, and shows what country's residents are buying bitcoins, in real time. There are also sites that list all major bitcoin exchanges, but they don't show it as a global phenomenon as vividly. One striking thing about the map: Bitcoin is increasingly a Chinese craze. Even at the height of the American and European trading days, when it's 3 a.m. in China, Chinese transactions far outstrip activity in euros. The United States dollar transactions are still more popular than Chinese at that time, with about twice as many transactions. China was barely involved in bitcoin a year ago, however. The Chinese presence can also strengthen when it is daytime in China and night in the United States. "You can watch China and the U.S. play Ping-Pong on this," said Andrew Hodel, who built the site. You see the psychology, as the bitcoin goes over a threshold number in dollars or yuan. Other players, like people in Japan or Britain, barely figure into the exchanges. Russians do not apparently trade much, but that participation is masked by their activities in the euro-based market. The map also shows the value of bitcoin in the local currency, based on the most recent trade. Mr. Hodel is an American living in Uruguay who owns a small Internet service provider called Cobianet, operating in Texas and Colorado. He says he owns only about 10 bitcoins, but admits a fascination with the currency. "It opened my eye to the fact that the U.S. isn't as influential as I thought," he said. Bitcoin is a currency, a commodity and an accountancy built by developers that is completely decentralized. It's fundamentally better. As to whether the huge influx of Chinese buyers could signal a bubble, Mr. Hodel said it proved the opposite. "Speculation from yuan buyers is running wild," he said, "but bubbles are cultural reactions to a development. This is happening over all kinds of cultures. Of course, that also raises the prospect that bitcoin is the first bubble currency of our new global digital culture. "That could be too," Mr. Hodel said. "But that probably means it will bubble up, burst, and come back," the way several currencies have in the past when they initially rise to pre-eminence. Nathaniel Popper contributed reporting.