22-05-2025
Bitcoin surges to new high; kimchi premium remains modest
Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, reached a record high of $110,000, backed by growing industry optimism, Thursday. Trading denominated in the South Korean won neared its peak as well, hovering at around 150 million won ($108,700) as of press time.
Regulatory developments in the US stoked industry optimism that the country will shortly agree on its first regulations for digital assets, boosting investor sentiment for the cryptocurrency.
According to global price-tracking platform CoinMarketCap, the price of bitcoin surpassed $110,000, reaching an industry milestone. As of 2 p.m., it traded at $111,461, marking a 3.7 percent gain from 24 hours earlier.
Cryptocurrency exchanges in Korea operate in a relatively isolated environment from the global trading market, as they are restricted to trading exclusively in Korean won.
Bitcoin traded above 154 million won as of 2 p.m. on the nation's largest crypto exchange Upbit. It traded similarly on Bithumb, the second-largest crypto exchange here.
The crypto previously peaked at roughly 160 million won on the local market in March, before it inched down to as low as the 110 million won range on April 7, as risk aversion grew with the US tariff policy creating market uncertainty.
With the surge in global trading prices of bitcoin, the 'kimchi premium' — the price gap between the cryptocurrency's value in Korea and international markets — fluctuated at below 1 percent, meaning trading prices in Korea were around 1 percent more expensive than globally.
Though the price gap remains relatively stable compared to when it was pushed to nearly 10 percent in February, experts pointed out that it has widened in recent days with gains in the Korean won. Theoretically, the kimchi premium strengthens when the won gains value.
'The price discrepancy has widened from minus 1 percent to plus 1 percent, meaning the kimchi premium has strengthened,' said Kim Min-seung, head of research at Korbit, one of Korea's top five cryptocurrency exchanges.
'But there are various factors impacting the kimchi premium. It does not always move in accordance with currency fluctuation. We cannot pinpoint a single reason that drives up or weakens the phenomenon."
