Kimchi Premium on Bitcoin & Ethereum Aiming for 15%

It was earlier this year that the cryptocurrency market started seeing the Korean premium make its reappearance, which was popular in 2017. As we have reported, the premium on both BTC and ETH has been uptrending.

The Kimchi premium on Bitcoin is currently making its way to 15%, the same as Ether ETH -0.51% Ethereum / USD ETHUSD $ 2,482.94
-$12.66-0.51% Volume 18.62 b Change -$12.66 Open $2,482.94 Circulating 116.96 m Market Cap 290.42 b 17 h Zcash Founder Proposes Moving to A 'More Decentralized' & Eco-Friendly PoS as PoW Has 'Security Flaws' 19 h Ethereum Will Outperform Bitcoin As A Transition in Storing Wealth Will Happen Beyond BTC: Pantera Capital CEO 19 h Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse Requests For XRP Related Documents From Binance and XRP XRP -2.35% XRP / USD XRPUSD $ 0.70
-$0.02-2.35% Volume 2.63 b Change -$0.02 Open $0.70 Circulating 46.31 b Market Cap 32.41 b 19 h Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse Requests For XRP Related Documents From Binance 20 h Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Grants its First Approval to A Crypto Exchange 21 h Investors Took Profits on BTC & ETH In the Recent Price Surge, But Invested in Multi-Asset Products . Zhu Su, CEO at Three Arrows Capital said,

“Think folks are underestimating the reawakening of Korean demand for cryptoassets. Premiums are over 10% now but can easily go to 100% given that it's even harder to arbitrage than last time. This, in turn, creates a large feedback loop for overall prices.”

Source: CryptoQuant

While during the last bull run, South Koreans were much more involved in the crypto market, this time, the volume on Korean crypto exchanges is under 2% of the global crypto volume.

While they may not be matching up with their crypto counterparts, the crypto transaction rate in the country surged past the transaction rate of its national stock exchange last month. Ki-Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant noted,

“Korean government prohibits derivative trading in Korean exchanges, so the only way to get rich in the short term is to get a ride on shitcoin pumpings.”

One Twitter user noted that Koreans are busy with the regional coins this time as they didn’t ride the DeFi rally.

Korean crypto may not be undervalued, but it is certainly under acknowledged. People asked where are the Koreans this cycle? They're investing in their *own* protocols

30 day returns$LUNA 79.5%$MIR 38.4$$KLAY 252%$CTC 589%$BELT Just started

— HanSolar (@hansolar21) March 12, 2021

The government is also focused on blockchain technology and in a stimulus package last year, they focused on the “digital new deal.” From online voting systems to allocate welfare to low-income citizens, they are using blockchain technology for a number of initiatives.