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Bitcoin Kimchi Premium Spikes as South Korea's Political Turmoil Escalates
The South Korean won hit the lowest level against the dollar since March 2009.
Updated Dec 30, 2024, 8:32 a.m. Published Dec 27, 2024, 12:22 p.m.
What to know:
- South Koreans are paying a 3% premium over U.S. traders to buy bitcoin, according to CryptoQuant data.
- The won hit the lowest level against the U.S. dollar since 2009 as parliament voted to impeach the acting president.
South Koreans are paying a full 3% more to buy than their U.S. counterparts as they seek protection from the plummeting won, CryptoQuant data show.
Priced in won, the largest cryptocurrency is valued at 145,000,000 ($98,600) on the country's largest crypto exchange, Upbit. That compares with about $96,700 on Coinbase (COIN).
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The move follows a vote by the South Korean parliament to impeach Han Duck-soo, the prime minister and acting president, just weeks after impeaching President Yoon Suk Yeol. The won slumped to a 15-year low against the dollar.
"This unfolding saga is fundamentally about election fraud and the erosion of trust in South Korea’s National Election Commission (NEC)," said Jeff Park, head of alpha strategies at investment manager Bitwise, in a post on X. "The use of impeachment as a political tool, combined with allegations of foreign election interference, underscores the fragility of democracy in the face of disinformation. This is not just a Korean story; it’s a warning for democracies worldwide."
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UPDATE (Dec. 30, 08:32 UTC): Adds dropped word "to" in third paragraph.
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Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
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Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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What to know:
- Ethena's USDe becomes fifth stablecoin to surpass $10 billion market cap in just 609 days, while Tether's dominance continues to slip.
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