A reverse kimchi premium, where cryptocurrencies trade cheaper in South Korea than on overseas exchanges, has become a sustained pattern this year for both Bitcoin and Ether, adding to signs of a broader structural shift in the local digital-asset market. Bitcoin’s kimchi premium gauge stayed negative every day through Aug. 9, averaging minus 0.48, while Ether’s averaged minus 0.49 over the same period, based on CryptoQuant data cited on Aug. 11. Of the 221 days so far this year, Bitcoin showed a reverse kimchi premium on 123 days, marking the first year since CryptoQuant began the series in July 2020 that the discount has lasted longer than a traditional positive premium. The longest negative stretch also reached a new record at 35 straight days from June 20 to July 24, after a 30-day run from May 20 to June 18 had already broken the previous 23-day record set in 2025. Analyst Park Sung-je of Shinhan Securities linked the shift to weaker domestic crypto demand as retail investors moved toward South Korean stocks, while regulatory limits, the absence of crypto derivatives and the pending rollout of cryptocurrency taxation reduced the market’s appeal.