Beijing-based HaoBTC recently announced the launch of a wallet service for customers worldwide interested in storing and buying bitcoin.

HaoBTC has been around since August 2014 and importantly developed a process for rapid transfer of fiat funds to wallet accounts, which allows for processing under ten seconds. HaoBTC CEO Wu Gang says this solves a problem that the Chinese community has with Bitcoin by allowing customers to convert local currency (RMB) to bitcoins quickly, which enables them to take advantage of rapid fluctuations in the market.

The press release from HaoBTC explains that the company achieves its “maximum ten second’ transfer promise through relationships with at least 12 Chinese banks and an external clearance agency. It adds that although third-party payment processors are banned from working with bitcoin companies by China’s central bank, local companies have worked around these barriers.

Currently the service is commission free—no fees are charged for BTC or RMB deposits; however, it is only possible to buy and withdraw BTC, making withdrawals in RMB is planned over the next few weeks.

HaoBTC is run by the same team who operate Bikeji.com, a bitcoin forum featured in CoinDesk after crowdfunding 100 BTC seed money.

HaoBTC provides interest-bearing accounts in bitcoin

The wallet service also offers something that’s not common in the bitcoin ecosystem: interest-bearing accounts. Users have two options for storing their bitcoins: a traditional multi-signature vault or an account that earns interest by investing the balance in the company’s mining operation.

HaoBTC’s wallet service grows out of a powerful mining operation that the company has been running

According to Wu Gang, China provides “great advantage in this round of global race of arms in BTC mining, thanks to its abundant hydro-power resources and mature IT electronic manufacturing industry.” Indeed HaoBTC boasts a impressively high-powered mining operation at a claimed 9PH hashrate.

A photo from inside a HaoBTC mining operation in Mabian, Sichuan province, via Twitter

Interest in the accounts is currently 10.64% annualized and is paid out hourly. HaoBTC has been providing this interest now on an hourly basis for over five months.

Although HaoBTC derives much of its revenue from its mining operations, Wu Gang would like people to see it as a wallet service more than a cloud mining operation. In light of the recent closures and indefinite suspensions of several mining operations at the beginning of 2015 (including CoinTerra Inc. and Aquifer LLC), there would be good reasons to hedge mining with services.

Wu Gang says that he wants to provide a Coinbase-like service for China that will allow users to easily buy, sell, and use bitcoins.

photo credit: WarzauWynn via photopin cc