Soaring Bitcoin Hits Another All-Time High in a Day

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

It was reported that Bitcoin's price exceeded $118,000, setting a new all-time high once again.
Driven by the continuous rally of the Nasdaq Composite Index, buying activity has been concentrated on major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Ripple, and Solana.
Continued capital inflow into Bitcoin Spot ETFs is also leading to an increase in overall cryptocurrency trading volume.

Bitcoin's price surpassed $118,000, hitting another all-time high within a single day. As the Nasdaq Composite Index continued to break record highs, increased risk appetite has led to a surge in buying activity for cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.

According to CoinMarketCap on the 11th, Bitcoin was trading at $118,370 at around 3 p.m. that day. It broke its previous record just a day after crossing the $112,000 mark. Around the same time, Bitcoin also rose to the 160 million KRW range on domestic exchanges. However, due to the negative 'Kimchi Premium'—which indicates the price gap between domestic and overseas markets—the all-time high of 163 million KRW was not surpassed. The Kimchi Premium was recorded at -1.43% during the same period.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also continued its upward trend. At one point that afternoon, Ethereum surged to 4.1 million KRW. This marks a recovery to the 4 million KRW range for the first time in over four months since February 24. In addition, other cryptocurrencies such as Tether, Ripple, and Solana also rose simultaneously.

Analysts attribute the strong buying momentum in risk assets to the continued record highs of the Nasdaq Composite Index. On this day, the Nasdaq closed at 20,630.67, up 0.09% from the previous day, recording new all-time highs for two consecutive days.

There is also sustained capital inflow into Bitcoin Spot ETFs. According to the virtual asset industry, as of that day, U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETFs had surpassed a cumulative net inflow of $50 billion (about 68.77 trillion KRW) in just a year and a half since launch. The net inflow for this year alone stands at $14.5 billion.

With Bitcoin's strength, attention is focused on whether cryptocurrency trading will become more active again. On June 10, the trading volume of cryptocurrencies on the domestic exchange Upbit totaled 5.65 trillion KRW, surpassing 5 trillion KRW for the first time in about a month since May 30 (6.71 trillion KRW). Although this is less than the 10–20 trillion KRW daily volume seen at the end of last year, it is considered a meaningful shift when compared to the 1–2 trillion KRW daily volumes observed over the past month.

Jin-Sung Kim, Reporter jskim1028@hankyung.com

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