Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin's Brutal Week Is Even Worse in South Korea

  • So-called kimchi premium disappears amid government clampdown
  • Bitcoin prices globally are sliding to their lows of the year
Bloomberg’s Eric Lam reports on the decline in Bitcoin.(Source: Bloomberg)
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The deepening selloff in cryptocurrencies has just claimed another victim: Bitcoin’s kimchi premium.

Prices for the virtual currency in South Korea have tumbled back in line with those on overseas exchanges for the first time in seven weeks, erasing a gap that had swelled to 51 percent in early January. The premium had been so persistent -- and so unique among major markets -- that traders named it after Korea’s staple side dish.