Bitcoin Maintains $75,580 Value in Korean Market, Warning for Short Term Adjustments

◇ Selling pressure may increase as Bitcoin maintains a $75,580 price in Korea

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) maintains a price range of $75,580 in the Korean market. The “Kimchi Premium,” indicating a higher price in the Korean exchange than overseas, is currently recording at over 6%.

 According to UPbit, as of 8:30 a.m. on the 12th, the domestic Bitcoin price had risen 3.09% from the previous day to $75,950.

At the same time, the overseas Bitcoin price, based on CoinMarketCap, has risen 5.12% from the previous day to a record $72,226. The “Kimchi Premium,” which makes the Korean price higher than overseas, is 6.34%.

The price of Bitcoin surged fiercely the previous day, renewing its all-time high in both USD and KRW terms. Given the rapid pace of the rise, short-term adjustment is possible.

CryptoQuant, a virtual asset data analysis company, announced on the 8th that miners’ profitability had reached its highest level since December last year. This means that miners may start selling, and the price will fall if selling pressure increases.

Also, general investors’ unrealized profit margin has reached 57%. Such situations have always led to price adjustments, and selling pressure on short-term holders may also increase.

CryptoQuant predicted, “Short-term holders have started selling at the highest rate of return since February 2021,” and “Potential selling pressure may increase.”

◇ UK regulatory authority open to the possibility of approving virtual asset ETNs

The UK regulatory authority has opened up the possibility of approving exchange-traded notes (ETNs) related to virtual assets.

On the 11th (local time), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it would not oppose the exchange’s request to trade virtual asset-related ETNs.

ETNs are derivative financial commodities that track the return on essential assets and trade on the exchange, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The difference is that while an asset management company issues ETFs, a securities company issues ETNs.

In response, the London Stock Exchange announced on the same day that it would start accepting applications for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) ETNs in the second quarter.

◇ Imminent Ethereum Upgrade, Dencun, for scalability improvement

The major upgrade of the Ethereum blockchain, Dencun, is just one day away. Dencun is considered the most anticipated Ethereum upgrade since the “Merge” in 2022.

The Dencun upgrade will occur at Ethereum’s 8,626,176th block around 11 p.m. on the 13th, Korean time.

The Dencun upgrade includes nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). The most important EIP among them is EIP-4844, which will improve the scalability of the Ethereum blockchain. The most critical content in EIP-4844 is the introduction of proto-dank sharding.

Sharding is a technology that divides transaction data into multiple shard chains for processing. As a result, Ethereum can handle an increasing amount of transaction data. Naturally, processing speed increases, and scalability improves. Danksharding is a part of sharding, and proto-danksharding refers to the first stage of danksharding.

With improved scalability, more services can be developed based on the Ethereum blockchain. These services use the virtual asset Ethereum (ETH) as the base currency, increasing the demand for Ethereum. The technical upgrade also has a positive impact on the price of Ethereum.

◇ A mining company purchases 50,000 mining machines ahead of halving

Bitfarms has purchased an additional 51,908 ASIC miners from Bitmain ahead of the halving in April.

Halving refers to the period when the reward for Bitcoin mining is halved. The schedule is around April 21st. As mining companies’ profitability may deteriorate after the halving, it is interpreted that they purchased mining machines to maximize mining productivity before the halving.

The Bitmain’s ASIC miner, the T21 model, sells for about $3,000 in the retail market. Of the miners purchased by Bitfarms, the T21 model accounts for about 28,000 units.

Geoff Morphy, CEO of Bitfarms, said, “We decided to purchase them before the price of mining machines rises ahead of the halving.”