Bitcoin traded at a rare discount in South Korea this week, with prices about 0.68% below the global weighted average as regional market sentiment weakened.
Market data showed the global average price near $69,697 while Bitcoin traded around $69,220 on the South Korean exchange Upbit at the same time.
Historically, Bitcoin tends to trade at a premium in South Korea — known as the “Kimchi Premium” — with CryptoQuant data showing the premium existed roughly 75% of the past year.
The discount deepened earlier this month when prices in South Korea briefly fell 2.27% below global markets on March 4, marking the largest gap since December 2024.
That earlier December 2024 discount reached about 2.42%, while the only other comparable event occurred in November 2022 during the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.
The latest discount coincided with heightened geopolitical tensions linked to the conflict between the United States and Iran and a sharp sell-off in South Korean equities.
On March 3 the KOSPI index dropped about 7.2% before falling another 12% the next day, suggesting domestic investors temporarily stepped back from risk assets including Bitcoin.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $69,607.34.