CoinMeta data: The price of Bitcoin in South Korea is often higher than in other places, and traders have been chasing this price difference for years to make a profit. Nowadays, automated trading has accelerated this process, but strict banking regulations still determine who can participate. The price difference, known as the “kimchi premium,” used to be a clear sign that South Korean investors were flooding into the crypto market, but its meaning is becoming increasingly difficult to interpret. Due to South Korea’s restrictions on cross-border fund transfers, traders are not able to transfer their profits overseas at will, which also helps to explain why this premium has been able to persist. According to Chainalysis, South Korea’s crypto economy reached $449 billion during the latest research period, and investors are particularly interested in tokens related to AI.