Kimchi Premium
Kimp · Korea premium
How much more, in percent, a coin costs on Korean exchanges than on overseas exchanges.
Simple explanation
Background: Korea's crypto exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Digital X) trade in Korean won only, and money cannot move freely in and out of Korea, so Korean coin prices can drift away from the rest of the world.
When buyers rush in on the Korean side, the same Bitcoin can cost more in Korea than on Binance. That gap is the kimchi premium, often shortened to "kimp".
To calculate it, the overseas price in dollars is converted into won at the KRW/USD exchange rate and compared with the Korean price. Above 0% means Korea is more expensive; below 0% means Korea is cheaper, which is called a reverse premium.
CoinGaja takes the live prices of the four Korean exchanges and Binance's USDT market as the overseas price (1 USDT counted as 1 dollar). It works out the premium on each Korean exchange and shows the median of the exchanges with fresh prices as each coin's main premium.
A high premium does not tell you where the price will go next. It shows how much stronger demand is in Korea than abroad.
Example
Bitcoin on Binance $70,000
KRW/USD rate ₩1,400 → overseas price in won ₩98,000,000
Bitcoin on Upbit ₩102,900,000
Kimchi premium = 102,900,000 ÷ (70,000 × 1,400) − 1 = +5.00%
※ Example numbers, for illustration only
See it on CoinGaja
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