The return of the Kimchi Premium

For the first time since January 2018, the infamous “Kimchi Premium” has returned in the last week of March 2021 (premium above 10%).

The Kimchi Premium is a term coined in the bull run of 2017 and describes a Bitcoin price premium between South Korean exchanges — Bithumb, UPbit, and Coinone — and Western exchanges. In 2017, the premium was mainly caused by outsized retail interest combined with the inability of widespread price arbitrage due to both local exchange regulations and cross-border capital controls, as well as very limited stablecoin usage at the time.