For the longest time, Bitcoin traders in Asia seemingly paid a higher price per Bitcoin. Many people used this premium as a way to predict where the Western Bitcoin price would head next. However, it appears this premium price difference is slowly eroding. Western exchanges are closing the gap to their Asian counterparts. This is quite an intriguing development which could be a positive factor for the Bitcoin market as a whole.
Asia’s Bitcoin Price Premium Is All But Gone
The past few years have been quite interesting for Bitcoin. Asian exchanges often showed higher prices compared to the rest of the world. To Asian traders, this seemed to be no problem, as they happily paid the price. However, it seems this premium is slowly disappearing across a lot of exchanges. There is still a gap with the Western platforms, though, but it is much smaller.
To put this into perspective, Asian exchanges are still showing an inflated Bitcoin price. Bithumb in Korea and OKCoin in China are trading Bitcoin well above US$3,000. Right now, the Western exchanges spot Bitcoin at around US$2,900. This means there is still a 3% price premium to be paid on Asian exchanges. It is evident this number is slowly dropping, though, which is quite interesting. It is only a matter of time until all platforms around the world are trading at the same price.
Now that Bitcoin hit US$3,000 for the first time yesterday, things are looking quite interesting. More specifically, South Korea and Japan are keeping their price somewhat close to the West right now. It also appears Western exchanges are still more volatile, though. Bitcoin hit US$3,000 briefly before dropping by nearly US$100 in the next few hours. In the East, the price remains relatively stable during the same period.
It will be interesting to see if these platforms can ever reach Bitcoin price parity. Should that happen, there is no telling what will happen to the Bitcoin price in the future. It is evident the global price of Bitcoin is starting to even out, which is a good thing. Moreover, liquidity across Japanese, Korean, and Chinese exchanges is on the rise again. It is evident things are falling into place for Bitcoin right now. These are very exciting times indeed.
