🌪️South Korea's political turmoil continues to cause Bitcoin Kimchi premium to soar
Recently, South Korea has been in political turmoil. First, the president was impeached, and now even the prime minister is about to face the same fate. This series of political crises not only caused the Korean won exchange rate to fall to its lowest level since March 2009, but also made Bitcoin's Kimchi premium, that is, the average purchase price of Bitcoin in South Korea 3% higher than that of global users.
Bitwise director Jeff Park analyzed that South Korean lawmakers recently proposed a motion to impeach the prime minister, and just two weeks ago, their president Yoon Seok-yeol was also impeached.
The cause of this incident was that President Yoon Seok-yeol tried to maintain national security by declaring martial law. However, the measure actually wanted to transfer power from the people to the military, while restricting the freedom of the press and assembly, and weakening the power of government agencies and courts.
Jeff Park emphasized that the current political turmoil has caused deep concern among democratic countries around the world. In particular, when impeachment is used as a tool for political manipulation, and the frequent appearance of accusations such as foreign interference in elections, it deeply reveals the fragile nature of the democratic system under the offensive of false information.
When the news of the impeachment of the acting president of South Korea came out, the won immediately depreciated sharply. In South Korea, due to the strict capital control policy implemented by regulators, the price of crypto assets on Korean exchanges is usually higher than that abroad. For example, on Upbit, the price of BTC is 144,450,000 won (about 98,000 US dollars), but on Coinbase, its price is only 95,100 US dollars.
It is worth noting that despite the widening price gap between crypto assets in South Korea and abroad, Korean investors have turned their attention to dollar-denominated assets such as BTC. The reason is that they are trying to avoid the current difficulties faced by the won.
This phenomenon deeply reveals the huge impact of political turmoil on financial markets, and triggers deep thinking about how investors should seek safe havens in unstable situations, and what key role cryptocurrencies play in the global financial system.
💬What do you think about the relationship between South Korea’s political unrest and Bitcoin’s kimchi premium? Do you think this will have a knock-on effect on the global crypto market?
