From Seoul to Satoshi: Understanding “The Kimchi Premium”

Today, I am writing to you from sunny Costa Rica where I am spending the week at a surf, mindfulness, and longevity camp. Pura Vida!

I am only able to take trips like this one because of the profits I’ve reaped from crypto investing. Researching, analyzing, investing, and trading cryptocurrencies has drastically changed my life for the better.

In this issue, I examine “The Kimchi Premium.” What does this phenomenon have to do with crypto investing? I’ll get to that in a minute.

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If you’ve been following my regular issues of Crypto Investing Daily, you know we have been in a prolonged correction in the crypto markets. After hitting highs in mid-March, market action has cooled off for the last month or si. Prices dipped to their lowest levels about a week ago, at which point I made sure to remind you all that we were seeing excellent buying opportunities.

Of course, it was too early to tell if the market was close to finding a bottom, and truthfully it still is. However, if you managed to buy crypto last week, so far, so good. Much of the market has managed to bounce from last week’s prices. Some cryptocurrencies have managed to do more than just a small bounce, too.

First, let’s take a look at Bitcoin (BTC).

Since bottoming out last Wednesday just under $60,000, BTC managed to climb ~11% to just over $66,000. Best of all, BTC has been in a slow and steady climb to these levels. We would like to see BTC climb a bit higher and hold these levels for at least a few days. At that point, we can start to gain confidence that the market has bottomed out. We’ll have to keep a close eye on Bitcoin in particular, but as of now the market looks healthy.

Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency that’s changed gears since last week. One of my favorite artificial intelligence (AI)-adjacent cryptocurrencies has been absolutely crushing it. Akash (AKT) hit peak gains of more -han 68% on Tuesday. Where else can you get 68% gains in a single day?

If you don’t already know, Akash is a decentralized cloud computing marketplace protocol building a supercloud for AI. Akash came about in the last crypto cycle and was trending in a very positive direction. It looked like Akash was going to blow up and gain popularity, but the bear market came in and swept it back under the rug.

Now in the current crypto cycle with the explosion of AI after the introduction of ChatGPT, Akash is rightfully gaining popularity. In parallel, the price of AKT has been on a memorable run over the last 6-9 months. However, the bullish action got even better on Tuesday.

Since Akash was still gaining popularity over the last year or so, it wasn’t listed on all major exchanges. In fact, when I wanted to buy Akash in 2023, I had to use my secondary exchange, Kraken. Then, about a month ago, Coinbase listed Akash. Unfortunately that timed up with the month-long price correction.

Spicy trades…

However, on Tuesday another major exchange listed Akash and this time AKT went soaring. That’s because South Korean exchange Upbit listed AKT and the Korean crypto community bought it like it was going out of style.

There’s a phenomenon in crypto called “The Kimchi Premium,” which just means that Koreans sometimes buy certain cryptocurrencies much more than other markets which temporarily causes price premiums on their exchanges.

Kimchi, of course, is a Korean dish of spicy pickled cabbage. The emergence of The Kimchi Premium isn’t exactly what Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto anticipated but, well, markets move in mysterious ways.

Tuesday we witnessed the kimchi premium with Akash and oh, was it a beautiful site. It was even better for the members of Crypto Trend Investor who bought AKT last week at a price of $3.83, as I recommedned. AKT hit a high of over $6.85 at one point on Tuesday, just days after I bought it for the Crypto Trend Investor portfolio. On that one trade alone, many members have already far more than repaid their subscription fee in paper gains. The best part is, I still think Akash has a lot more room to grow!

The crypto market is showing signs of life again and the bulls will come parading back in town soon enough. If you want to join the stampede, make sure to join my premium service Crypto Trend Investor, by clicking the link here.