What is the kimchi premium?
The kimchi premium is the gap between a coin's price on South Korean exchanges, mainly Upbit and Bithumb, and its price on the big exchanges abroad. When Bitcoin costs more in won than it does elsewhere, the premium is positive; when it costs less, it is a discount (sometimes called a reverse kimchi premium). The name is a nod to Korea, and the kimchi premium page shows it live for every coin listed on both sides (see also the glossary entry).
How we compute it
- Korean price. The coin's last KRW price on Upbit and, separately, on Bithumb, from their public tickers.
- Exchange rate. The won price of USDT on Upbit (on Bithumb when Upbit is unreachable), averaged over the last 10 minutes of polls so a one-won tick does not swing every premium.
- World price. The coin's Binance USDT price: spot where Binance lists it, else its USDT perpetual.
- Compare.
premium = KRW price ÷ USDT/KRW rate ÷ Binance USDT price − 1
A venue's figure is shown only when it traded at least ₩500.0M of the coin in the last 24 hours. A gap beyond ±30% almost always means two different tokens share a ticker, or a market is being delisted, so the coin is listed as excluded instead. An Upbit market with no trade in 24 hours is treated as suspended. Prices refresh about every 60 seconds, and under ±0.05% the gap is described as near parity.
Worked example (made-up numbers)
Bitcoin last traded at ₩150,000,000 on Upbit, USDT at ₩1,400, and BTC/USDT at $105,000 on Binance.
- In USDT the Korean price is ₩150,000,000 ÷ ₩1,400 = $107,143.
- Premium = ₩150,000,000 ÷ ₩1,400 ÷ $105,000 − 1 = +2.04%.
- Put another way, ₩1,000,000 spent on BTC on Upbit buys about ₩980,000 worth at Binance prices.
Why arbitrage does not close the gap
In an open market a gap like this would vanish within minutes: traders would buy abroad, send the coins to Korea, sell for won and pocket the difference. In Korea that loop breaks at the last step.
- Won stays in Korea. Korean exchanges accept won only from a verified account at a local partner bank, and foreign-exchange rules limit how much won an individual can move abroad, so the profit is hard to bring back out.
- Foreigners are mostly shut out. Opening an account on a Korean exchange needs Korean real-name verification, so most foreign traders cannot sell into the premium at all.
- Transfers take time. Coins and won both move slowly between venues and banks, and exchanges can suspend deposits or withdrawals for a coin. The premium can close before a transfer lands.
So when Korean retail demand jumps, the local price can sit above the world price for days or weeks until the buying cools.
Why we convert at USDT, not the bank rate
We use exchange public APIs only, with no bank foreign-exchange feed. Converting at the Korean USDT price also strips out the part of the premium that is really a premium on USDT itself. Take the same example with a bank rate of ₩1,380 per dollar:
- At the bank rate the Korean BTC price is $108,696, a premium of +3.52% against Binance.
- USDT itself costs ₩1,400 ÷ ₩1,380 − 1 = +1.45% more in Korea than the bank rate.
- Against USDT the premium is +2.04%: what BTC costs in Korea over the stablecoin you could swap it for there.
Other sites quote the premium against the bank USD/KRW rate, so their figures run higher whenever USDT trades above that rate in Korea. Compare the USDT/KRW price on the live page with the bank rate to see that part.
History
We have recorded the Upbit and Bithumb premium every hour since Sep 29, 2026. The charts on the kimchi premium page show BTC and ETH over 30 days, 90 days and all time, each coin's page has its own chart, and the same hourly series is free as JSON from the history API.
Limits
- The figure depends on the exchange rate chosen. Ours is the Korean USDT price; a bank USD/KRW rate gives a different, usually higher, number (see above).
- The world price is Binance only. Other venues can differ slightly, and coins without a Binance USDT market are not covered.
- Last-trade prices on a thinly traded coin can lag the market, which is why a venue needs ₩500.0M of 24-hour volume to count.
- The premium shows where Korean prices sit now. It is not a forecast and not financial advice.
Data sources checked on 19 October 2026: Upbit Open API: ticker · Bithumb public API: ticker · Binance spot API: market data endpoints. Not financial advice.