South Korea was once known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers" and is also the 13th largest economy in the world with strong consumption power. According to the South Korea Crypto Market Report 2022, the Bitcoin trading volume in the South Korean market ranks third in the world, second only to the United States and Japan.
“Kimchi Premium”
Since the last bull market, the Korean Bitcoin market has been overheated. Retail investors have bought a large number of Bitcoins, causing the price of Bitcoin in South Korea to be much higher than that in other countries. The "Kimchi Premium" phenomenon once made the price of Bitcoin in the Korean market 40%-50% higher. Alameda made a lot of money through arbitrage.
Luna Thunder
The most well-known project in South Korea is definitely the Luna algorithmic stablecoin project. Its founder, Do Kwon, is a top Korean student who graduated from Stanford University. At its peak, Luna’s market value exceeded US$41 billion, ranking fifth in the world, making it a strong competitor to Ethereum.
South Korean cryptocurrency players strongly support the local project Luna and even lend money to trade in cryptocurrency
In May 2022, the once popular Luna officially collapsed, and the stablecoin $UST continued to decouple. In just a few days, the price of Luna tokens fell by 99.99%, truly "returning to zero"
Cyber hype incident
Luna's crash did not affect Korean players' love for the cryptocurrency circle. Cyber's recent surge after being listed on the Korean exchange Upbit is enough to prove the strength of the Korean cryptocurrency circle.
The price of $Cyber on the Korean exchange Upbit once hit a high of $36. However, the highest price on Binance only reached $16.2, with a premium rate of up to 120%.
Interesting phenomenon
In pursuit of excitement, Korean cryptocurrency players often hold a "gambler's feast" on the eve of exchange delisting or during exchange maintenance. As long as the exchange does not allow deposits/withdrawals, the price of the platform's tokens is determined by the players on the exchange, and the price fluctuations are greater. For example, $Cyber is a typical example.
Unique Korean Coin Circle
Under the unique social atmosphere, Korean cryptocurrency players are more "ambitious". Now the market value of Bitcoin/Ethereum is too high and cannot be easily doubled, which has lost its appeal to the Korean cryptocurrency circle. Altcoins led by XRP have become the darlings of young Koreans. The latest survey shows that among young people in their 20s in South Korea, Bitcoin and Ethereum together only account for 17.5% of the investment ratio
The unique Korean cryptocurrency circle (2)
Korean players are not very interested in Defi. Although Web2 giant Kakao has supported a Layer1 public chain called Klaytn, there are still not many Korean players on the chain.
Brief summary
Personally, I feel that Korean people are very receptive to cryptocurrencies. The Korean cryptocurrency community prefers highly volatile markets and has less interest in Bitcoin. In addition, Defi's yield rate is relatively slow and has not yet attracted many Korean players. I hope more and more people will learn about cryptocurrencies and embark on the wonderful Defi journey.
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