It appears there are some very interesting things happening in the world of cryptocurrency and digital assets right now. Ethereum is making big gains – a pump, according to some – whereas a few other coins do so as well. Contrary to what people may believe, the demand for ETH is coming from Korea, a country that remains quite bullish on XRP as well.
Korea Is Driving Demand For Non-Bitcoin Currencies
It is quite intriguing to take note of how Korea is positioning itself in the cryptocurrency world right now. A few months ago, it appeared there was next to no interest in Bitcoin, let alone alternative currencies and digital assets. A lot has changed over the past few months, and Korea is well underway to become one of the top three countries for trading volume right now.
What makes things even more interesting is how Korea seems to focus its attention on two particular currencies right now. Both Ethereum and XRP are seeing tremendous trading volume against the Korean Won. For Ethereum, three of the top 7 exchanges by volume are based in Korea, with a KRW trading pair. Two of those exchanges generate more ETH/KRW volume compared to Kraken’s ETH/BTC volume. Very interesting indeed.
Japan seems to be rather quiet on the Ethereum front for the time being, although bitFlyer is still generating over US$1.3m in trading volume. What is a bit surprising is how the ETH price there is exactly the same as in the US, whereas Korean Won trades put the price at US$114 per ETH. Yunbi is the only CNY exchange in the top 20 for showing any interest in ETH right now. It is obvious Korea is the new frontier for cryptocurrency and digital assets right now.
A similar trend can be noted where XRP trading is concerned, as Coinone has been generating the second most volume as of late. Oddly enough, that is the only Korean exchange in the top 25. Japanese exchanges are slightly more visible for XRP, although their volume is hovering around “just” US$1m. Bittrex is on a march to overtake Kraken in trading volume, though. All of these developments are rather intriguing, and it will be interesting to see what the future may hold.
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