Capital of South Korea’s retail investors is driving ether price momentum and corporate ether financing companies, according to industry insiders, as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency trading is just 7% below its all-time high.
According to Samson Mow, CEO of Bitcoin Technology Company Jan3, the “only” that maintains ether (ETH) prices and ether finance companies at current levels is Korean retail capital worth around $6 billion.
“ETH influencers are flying to Korea to get to the market just for retail. These investors have zero thoughts about the ETHBTC chart and are buying the next strategic play.”
sauce: Samson Mo
Upbit and Bithumb are two major centralized exchanges (CEX) used by Korean retailers.
Looking at futures data, Upbit ranks as the 10th largest CEX for Ether futures trading, earning a trading volume worth $129 billion, according to Coinglass data.
CEXS by Ethereum futures trading volume. Source: Coinglass
Crypto futures trading typically exceeds the amount of spot trading, which has a major impact on the price of the underlying asset.
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Ether’s Kimchi Premium is increasing engagement with retail investors in Korea
Ether’s Kimchi Premium also shows growing demand from Korean retail investors. This explains how cryptocurrency prices are higher on Korean exchanges than on other exchanges.
According to blockchain data platform Cryptoquant, Ether’s Kimchi Premium rose to 1.93 on Sunday.
Ethereum: Korean Premium Index, chart with age. sauce: Encryption
This indicator measures the price gap for ether between Korean exchanges and other exchanges.
Blockchain Oracle According to Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder of Oracle Firm Redstone, Korean retail investors are key participants in the crypto market, as reflected in Ether’s “Kimchi Premium.”
However, Kazmierczak said this is only a small part of the overall momentum of the ether.
“Characting them as key support for Ethereum makes the network’s diverse global capital base, including substantial US investments, significantly more modestly and modest through the vast rebellious ecosystem that relies on ETFs, the Corporate Treasury and ETH.”
Kazmierczak added that Ethereum’s strength lies in its “boundary-free nature” that combines Korean retail with global institutional participation.
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Mow’s insight comes from many other industry watchers questioning the sustainability of ether financing companies.
In September, Mechanism Capital founder Andrewkan criticized Bitmine’s founder Tomley’s etheric paper, claiming that the value of ether is exaggerated from stubcoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
sauce: Andrew Kang
“The Ethereum valuation comes primarily from financial illiteracy. To be fair, we can create a proper, large-scale market capitalization,” Kang said in X-mail on September 24th, adding that “the evaluations derived from financial illiteracy are not endless.”
“Wider macrofluidity” maintains ether prices momentum, but “major organizational changes” are needed to save it from “indefinitely low performance,” Kang said.
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