South Korea’s Kimchi premium turns to discount
1 min read
South Korea’s “Kimchi premium” has flipped to a discount again, meaning cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are now cheaper to buy on South Korean exchanges.
The phenomenon is named after the Korean dish kimchi. The
In the past, the size of the Kimchi premium has been tied to news, with notable dips recorded at times when bad news breaks about South Korean crypto exchanges.
The premium disappeared in early 2018 when the South Korean government announced it was planning to crack down on cryptocurrency trading.
A 2019 paper from the University of Calgary found that the Kimchi Premium first occurred in 2016.
According to the researchers, between Jan 2016 and Feb 2018, South Korean Bitcoin exchanges charged an average of 4.73% more than their United States counterparts.
