[Korea crypto watch] BNB takes 0.63% of overseas trading but just 0.02% in Korea

PIEVERSE’s share of Korean trading was 49.3 times its overseas share, while XRP accounted for 14.72% of domestic turnover. ONDO and WLD also showed substantial Korean concentration, although PIEVERSE traded at a discount domestically.

PIEVERSE had the widest domestic-to-overseas trading-share gap in the sample. Its greater concentration in Korea did not translate into a price premium: the token’s Korean price was 0.29% below its overseas price.

In the November 10 snapshot, XRP led the domestic interest index with 87 points and a 14.72% share of Korean trading.

ONDO ranked second with 85.8 points, followed by HYPE with 80.2. Their domestic trading shares were 2.14% and 14.89%, respectively. Domestic turnover over 24 hours reached 185.84 billion won for XRP, 27.00 billion won for ONDO and 188.00 billion won for HYPE.

The sample covered 51 tokens traded both domestically and overseas. PIEVERSE, WLD, AVAX, XLM, PEPE, DOGE and ENA completed the top 10 in the interest ranking.

PIEVERSE accounted for 7.77% of domestic trading against 0.16% overseas, giving it the largest domestic concentration multiple at 49.3 times. ONDO followed at 13.2 times, WLD at 12.8 times and XLM at 9.2 times.

BNB showed the opposite pattern, accounting for 0.63% of overseas trading but just 0.02% domestically. XAUT also had a smaller Korean presence, with shares of 0.17% overseas and 0.01% domestically. USDC’s corresponding shares were 11.82% and 2.95%.

The split also extended to USDT, which represented 42.01% of overseas trading and 19.72% domestically.

HYPE recorded the strongest increase in trading activity relative to its usual level, while its price fell 12.90% over seven days. AVAX and ARB also saw increased activity. SKY, LIT and PUMP recorded the weakest activity readings.

POL had the largest kimchi premium—the Korean price difference relative to overseas markets—at 0.64%, followed by SHIB at 0.46% and PEPE at 0.37%. HYPE traded at a 0.99% domestic discount, followed by CC at 0.82% and BCH at 0.49%.

[Editor’s note] This column uses a domestic interest index to examine Korean cryptocurrency trading. Its universe consists of tokens traded both domestically and overseas. The index combines domestic and overseas trading shares, the kimchi premium and changes in trading activity, centering on actual trading turnover. Domestic share measures a token’s portion of domestic turnover; overseas share measures its portion of overseas turnover. Comparing the two shows where trading is more concentrated.