Kimchi Premium and How It Impacts XRP Price

Excitement has persisted around XRP price as it made a comeback after the crypto secured U.S crypto reserve status in recent Trump’s announcement. Some interesting observations around the cryptocurrency have also made their way into the mainstream media and XRP news.

The spotlight on XRP recently revealed that South Korean crypto exchange, UpBit currently holds double the Ripple-native coins as Binance. A rather unusual outcome considering that Binance is the leading exchange by volumes.

UpBit’s impressive lead in terms of XRP holdings is not just another random outcome and the reasons reveal a lot about XRP demand.

South Korean is one of the Asian countries with the highest levels of crypto adoption. XRP is particularly quite interesting to South Korean holders on account of its potential to change the traditional finance landscape.

UpBit happens to be the top crypto exchange in Korea and it is thus no surprise that most of the XRP trading and ownership activity happens on this exchange. In addition, the exchange also provides crypto custody for most holders choosing to hold their coins on the exchange. However, it goes beyond just ownership.

The Kimchi Premium and its potential impact on XRP price

UpBit is one of the favorite crypto exchanges for Arbitrage traders because of the Kimchi Premium. The latter refers to a phenomenon where crypto prices in South Korea are usually higher than the rest of the global market.

As a consequence, this premium attracts a lot of traders and not just because of strong demand in South Korea, but also due to arbitrage trading. Some analysts believe that the Kimchi Premium could contribute to robust XRP price demand and volatility in the next major bullish wave.

Could South Korea’s XRP demand dominance be challenged by the cryptocurrency’s recent U.S reserve asset status? It is far too early to tell how things will unfold. Nevertheless, the U.S crypto reserve status could fuel aggressive demand for XRP in the west.

XRP sentiment pulls back after the weekend excitement

The recent Trump announcement fueled a massive price uptick and a significant sentiment shift from fear to greed during the weekend. However, this hype was short lived as sentiment rapidly switched back to fear.

The XRP sentiment peaked at 77 on 2 March but has since then dipped to 30 as at press time. This pullback was also observed in its counterparts that were also mentioned among the coins to be added to the U.S crypto reserve.

A lot of criticism emerged with many describing Trump’s post as a market manipulation tactic. This is because of the rapid surge observed as the market reacted to the news, followed by a sharp selloff.

Despite this, the U.S strategic reserve announcement highlights potential upside ahead for XRP and its cohort once the crypto reserves are officially launched. In addition, the market is closely watching things unfold, in anticipation of the Ripple-SEC case’s highly anticipated conclusion.