On a day in which Bitcoin crashed briefly to $30,000 in a rampant bear market, the leading cryptocurrency never got anywhere close to that on Korean exchanges. The so-called “kimchi premium” saw to that, keeping the price of Bitcoin as much as $5,000 above its level on leading U.S. exchanges.
The major reason for this kimchi premium is that Korea’s exchanges are fairly isolated by a combination of the country’s strict capital control laws preventing funds from leaving the country, and the tax code and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations that make it difficult for foreigners to use Korean exchanges — even giants like Bithumb and Upbit — without local Korean bank accounts.
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