{"id":221408,"date":"2026-09-01T15:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=221408"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:23:33","slug":"south-koreas-bitcoin-kimchi-premium-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=221408","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s Bitcoin \u2018Kimchi Premium\u2019 Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s Bitcoin \u2018Kimchi Premium\u2019 Returns<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Bitcoin is up this month but there\u2019s one place where it\u2019s more significantly more expensive: South Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The so-called Kimchi Premium \u2014 when bitcoin costs more on Korean exchanges \u2014 is back as retail investors pile back into the coin. Bloomberg first reported<\/a> the news and CoinGecko data shows that bitcoin\u2019s price is nearly 1% higher on Upbit, Korea\u2019s biggest exchange, than Binance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Named after a popular dish in the Asian nation, the phenomenon comes down to Korea\u2019s market being partly walled off. Prices have historically run higher there because of strong local retail demand combined with strict capital controls and trading regulations.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Bitcoin\/won trading pair is more common in South Korea compared to the Bitcoin\/U.S. dollar pair in other places. When there is demand for the asset, it will naturally be higher in the country as compared to other places.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon has been described as a retail FOMO indicator, since Korea has few notable crypto funds and tight capital controls. The premium has reached as high as 21.5% in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bitcoin was recently trading<\/a> for $78,287, unmoved over the past 24 hours. It\u2019s also at the same price it was seven days ago, but over the past month, the coin has rallied by 24%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The price of the biggest digital asset started surging after the U.S. Treasury in August said<\/a> it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations. The announcement hurt the dollar but non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold have benefited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump also said<\/a> the same week that the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act<\/a> was an important piece of legislation, and urged lawmakers to get it over the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

JUST IN: There’s now a 59% chance Bitcoin will be above $82,500 this month, according to Polymarket\u2060.com pic.twitter.com\/kTYEZsxQvk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 1, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Crypto industry bigwigs have been calling for clear rules for distinguishing between digital assets that are securities, commodities or payment stablecoins, and news that regulators will soon have such a framework has typically benefited crypto markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speculators are now betting on Polymarket that there\u2019s a 59% chance bitcoin will be above $82,500 this month, leading some to call an end to the bear market. <\/p>\n

This post South Korea\u2019s Bitcoin \u2018Kimchi Premium\u2019 Returns<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Mathew Di Salvo<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine South Korea\u2019s Bitcoin \u2018Kimchi Premium\u2019 Returns Bitcoin is up this month but there\u2019s one place where it\u2019s more significantly more expensive: South Korea.\u00a0 The so-called Kimchi Premium \u2014 when bitcoin costs more on Korean exchanges \u2014 is back as retail investors pile back into the coin. Bloomberg first reported the news and CoinGecko […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":221409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/221409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}