This article has been translated from English to Gen Z Slang.
The "kimchi premium” is this wild concept in the crypto world where peeps in Korea pay extra moolah for bitcoin compared to global prices. 🤑 It’s like putting a premium on your avocado toast, but for BTC. 🥑💸
Basically, it’s about how much more South Koreans are shelling out for their bitcoin fix. 🚀
This gap between what bitcoin costs in South Korea and on other crypto exchanges around the world is called the “kimchi premium,” coz you know, it’s as spicy as kimchi itself. 🔥
This whole spicy premium first started trending in early 2016, according to some smart cookies at the University of Calgary. 🎓✨
According to their paper, bitcoin prices dip during Asia’s trading hours because traders cash out the extra cha-ching on South Korean crypto exchanges. 📉
The low-key move here is that crypto traders snag bitcoin on the cheap outside South Korea, then flip it on the Korean market for some sweet gains. This money move is known as “arbitrage trading.” 💸🔥
At the dawn of 2017, bitcoin prices were basically twinning between South Korea and everywhere else, but fast forward to early 2018, and the “kimchi premium” had gone through the roof, hitting more than 50%. 🚀
The peak was a spicy 54.48% in January 2018. That’s some serious FOMO action. 📈😱