The kimchi premium turned into a discount during the rally
Bitcoin rose 12.5% between 15 and 23 September. Korean won markets did not chase it. Upbit and Bithumb went from paying 0.9% above the global price to trading 2% below it — the widest discount in our data — while XRP, not bitcoin, remained the coin Korea trades most.
Key findings
- The volume-weighted BTC/KRW price on Upbit and Bithumb moved from a +0.91% premium over our global index on 15 September to a −1.99% discount on 21–22 September, then recovered to −0.64% on 23 September.
- Euro, dollar and USDT pairs stayed within ±0.3% of the index over the same period. The move is specific to won markets.
- Korean won venues measured $13.9B of spot volume in seven days, about 2.7% of the $506B we recorded across all 51 exchanges. Upbit alone was $10.3B.
- XRP is the most-traded coin on Korean venues at $1.9B for the week, twice bitcoin's $0.9B. Altcoins are 82% of won volume against 70% on Binance spot.
The kimchi premium is the gap between the bitcoin price on Korean won exchanges and the price everywhere else. Korea's capital controls make it hard to arbitrage away, so the gap persists and moves with domestic demand: a positive premium means Koreans are paying up for coins, a negative one means they are net sellers relative to the world.
We compute it directly from trades. Every BTC/KRW print on Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit is converted to dollars at the won's reference FX rate for that minute and compared with our global bitcoin index at the same hour, weighted by volume. No exchange-reported tickers, no single snapshot.
BitcoinBTCAcross 50 spot markets we indexA rally Korea did not chase
Bitcoin's index price averaged $76,809 on 15 September and $86,403 on 23 September, a gain of 12.5% in eight days. Here is what the won market did over the same period:
| Date | BTC index (avg) | KRW premium | EUR premium | USDT premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Sep | $76,809 | **+0.91%** | +0.04% | −0.05% |
| 16 Sep | $75,843 | +0.66% | +0.15% | +0.03% |
| 17 Sep | $76,505 | +0.26% | +0.16% | +0.01% |
| 18 Sep | $79,023 | −0.26% | +0.31% | +0.29% |
| 19 Sep | $81,292 | −1.13% | −0.15% | +0.03% |
| 20 Sep | $80,762 | −1.53% | −0.15% | −0.02% |
| 21 Sep | $84,200 | **−1.99%** | +0.22% | +0.22% |
| 22 Sep | $85,975 | **−1.99%** | +0.31% | +0.07% |
| 23 Sep | $86,403 | −0.64% | +0.16% | −0.07% |
Three observations:
- The premium flipped sign exactly as the rally started. Korea was paying a 0.9% premium while bitcoin drifted at $76–77k. The day bitcoin broke out (18 September, +3.3%), the won price fell _below_ the world price and kept falling relative to it for four more days.
- The discount widened as the rally accelerated. The two strongest days for bitcoin, 21 and 22 September, are the two days of the widest discount at −1.99%. Korean holders were selling into strength, or at least not buying it.
- Other currencies did not move. Euro pairs on Coinbase, Bitvavo and Bitstamp sat between −0.15% and +0.31%. USDT pairs, which _are_ the index for most purposes, stayed within ±0.3%. The discount is a Korean phenomenon, not an FX or index artefact.
By 23 September the discount had narrowed to −0.64% as the rally paused. Whether that is Korea catching up or the world coming back to Korea will show in the next few days; the daily reading is on the Upbit exchange page.
Korea is 2.7% of spot, and it trades XRP
Korean venues are a small share of global spot volume but a very specific one.
| Venue | Quote | 7-day volume | Assets traded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upbit | KRW | $10.32B | 284 |
| Bithumb | KRW | $3.52B | 445 |
| Coinone | KRW | $48M | 241 |
| Korbit | KRW | $31M | 152 |
| **Total KRW** | **$13.9B** | ||
| All 51 exchanges, all pairs | $506B |
That is 2.7% of the spot volume we measured worldwide, with Upbit at 74% of the Korean total. For bitcoin specifically the won is 0.7% of spot volume, third behind USDT and USDC but ahead of the euro.
What Korea trades is the interesting part:
| Coin | 7-day KRW volume (Upbit + Bithumb) |
|---|---|
| XRP | $1,908M |
| Bitcoin | $917M |
| Tether (USDT/KRW) | $850M |
| Ethereum | $763M |
| G-Token | $490M |
| NEAR | $331M |
| Solana | $303M |
| Derive | $299M |
| Ethena | $281M |
| Ondo | $272M |
XRP traded twice as much as bitcoin in won. Bitcoin, ether and USDT together are 18% of won volume; on Binance spot the same three are 30%. Put differently, 82% of Korean volume is altcoins against 70% on the largest global exchange.
The Tether line deserves a note. USDT/KRW at $850M for the week is the on- and off-ramp: Koreans buying USDT to move to offshore venues, or selling it to come home. When the kimchi premium is negative, USDT/KRW usually trades at a small premium instead — capital leaving. On 23 September USDT/KRW was at +0.11% while BTC/KRW was at −0.64%.
Where Korea's coins come from
A common assumption is that Korean exchanges are full of coins nobody else lists. On volume, that is not true: only 2.9% of won volume on Upbit and Bithumb was in coins that have no market on Binance, OKX, Bybit or Coinbase. The largest of those Korea-only names — Interfold, JPY Coin, Bifrost, Squid, Zircuit, BORA — did $5–95M each for the week.
The Korean market, then, is not a separate universe. It trades the same large-cap altcoins as everyone else, but with a heavier tilt to XRP and a handful of domestic favourites, and with a price that reflects domestic sentiment more than global arbitrage.
The clock
Won volume by hour of day is the mirror image of the dollar market. The peak is 00:00 UTC — 09:00 in Seoul — at $3.4B per hour-slot over 30 days, five times the 19:00 UTC trough ($0.65B, which is 04:00 in Seoul). A second, smaller hump at 12:00–14:00 UTC (21:00–23:00 Seoul) is the evening session. The US-open window that dominates dollar volume barely registers.
What this means
- The premium is a sentiment gauge, and it is currently negative. Korea has sold this rally relative to the world. Historically, sustained negative premiums have accompanied local caution rather than the tops that large _positive_ premiums marked in 2017 and 2021.
- XRP's price is unusually exposed to Korean flows. With $1.9B of a week's XRP volume in won, Korean sentiment moves XRP more than it moves bitcoin.
- For arbitrage watchers, a −2% discount with a +0.1% USDT/KRW premium is the classic "capital leaving" configuration. It will not close through arbitrage; it closes when Korean buyers return.
_Method note._ Premium is the volume-weighted BTC/KRW price on Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit, converted to USD at the minute's reference rate, divided by Coinmico's hourly global BTC index price, aggregated per day. The euro and USDT columns use the same method on EUR and USDT pairs. Coinone and Korbit were added to the index on 22 September; the daily series before then is Upbit and Bithumb only, which together are 99% of won volume.
Assets in this piece
Bitcoin
Tether
XRPSources
- Coinmico trade index — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit KRW markets
- Coinmico global BTC price index
- FX reference rates used for KRW→USD conversion
Everything else in this piece is measured by Coinmico across the venues and chains we index. See our methodology.
