South Korean’s frenzy for digital coins, especially alternative coins, has pushed the transaction volume for cryptocurrencies past 45 trillion won ($43.11 billion) in the 24 hours until Friday morning.
The figure exceeds the combined trading volume of the country’s two stock markets Kospi and Kosdaq by far. On Thursday, the main Kospi recorded a transaction volume of 16.62 trillion won and Kosdaq 7.4 trillion won.
The explosive trading volume was backed by a spike in interest in altcoins, which refers to cryptocurrencies other than the largest Bitcoin.
The popularity of altcoins appears to be higher in South Korea than overseas markets. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin transactions accounted 40 percent across the global exchanges it tracks on Friday morning, in South Korea, Bitcoin transactions took up only 7 percent during the same period.
The frenzy in the South Korean markets also contributed to the “Kimchi Premium” for cryptocurrenices, referring to higher prices of the same cryptocurrencies in the Korean market. The Kimchi Premium was as high as 20 percent last month. While one Bitcoin was sold at 81 million won on Bithumb on April 14, for instance, the same amount was traded at 71 million won on global exchange Binance.
Upbit, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the country, issued warnings on its trading platform as the price difference between Upbit and the global market exceeded 5 percent.
박가영(2021.05.07) Crypto transaction volume surpasses $43.11 billion, 3x bigger than KOSPI’s
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