South Korea has been responsible for the increase in the price of Bitcoin and other altcoins, because of a huge demand for digital tokens—often more than any other country in the global crypto space. This increasing demand has spiked the purchasing price of these crypto coins in South Korea to the point where opportunities for arbitrage have come up—such that crypto holders that bought their tokens at the European or Us market rate can make more money by selling them in the Korean cryptomarket.
Three of their largest exchanges have enjoyed the uniqueness of the region’s crypto space because in the last two months there has been increased trading activity and significant user growth such that their volume supersedes other popular crypto exchanges, like Kraken.
The reason why these local exchanges can record such success has to do with significantly higher prices. And the exchange volume is not difficult to understand, as Korea is known to be an early adopter of trends, especially tech trends like cryptocurrency.
Local news outlets in the region have been a major factor behind this huge adoption because of awareness they have created through media reports and coverage of cryptocurrencies. The top search engine in the region, Naver has even listed crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum among its top 10 searched topics.
It is not all good news for those engaging or planning to involve their tokens in arbitrage because of the advantage of high prices. The country in 1997 was plunged into a serious financial crisis that required the intervention of IMF to stabilize their economy. As result regulations were put in place to limit the amount of money that can be sent out of the country.
In South Korea, the laws in place have made it impossible to send more than 50 million KRW ($45,000) out of the country.
Asides these several other restrictions make it cumbersome for foreigners interested in the region’s cryptomarket to trade.
Korea will continue to lead another market regarding adoption because of their advanced infrastructure and support for new technologies, even with the high level of restrictions it is safe to say that the region will be a leading market for cryptocurrencies in the world.
