Due to Tension between N. Korea and US
Some investors are turning to assets with the most volatility in a situation where North Korean and the US are headed for a touch-and-go situation. The assets are virtual currencies. According to Bloomberg on August 11, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin which reached the peak of volatility this year were strong due to the situation on the Korean peninsula.
As gold and US treasury bills which were regarded as traditional safe assets, did not generate profits and lost their glory even during the hair-trigger tension between North Korea and the US, investors entered the virtual money market. In fact, no brake was put on rallies of virtual currencies continued this year despite the situation full of dynamite on the Korean peninsula.
"We are closely monitoring the movements of investors who are turning to the virtual money market to diversify and diversify downside risk," said an official of InvestFeed, a virtual currency trading platform.
Bloomberg also noted that Ethereum’s trade surged to US$2.6 billion in Korea on August 9, two days after US President Donald Trump's "fire and fury" remark. "South Korea sandwiched between North Korea and the US over a war of words is becoming a haven Ethereum which is more volatile than Bitcoin,” Bloomberg said.
On the day, Ethereum trading volume was 60% bigger than Bitcoin trade volume in South Korea. After the emergence of Ethereum, its trading volume eclipsed Bitcoin trading volume only once at the end of July, when a Bitcoin split crisis began on a full scale. In fact, according to Coin Market Cap, Korean won accounted for more than 40% of recent Ethereum trading volume, proving that Koreans were bent on buying Ethereum.
Ethereum was up 2.86 percent, rising to 305.44, hitting a two-month high at 7:45 am. In the last four trading days, it recorded earning rates of 30% or higher. Bitcoin which hit US$3,500 for the first time on August 8, is now standing at US$3,456.50.
The reason why investors enter the virtual money market even though Bitcoin’s volatility is ten times higher than gold is that virtual money has an independent status that is not controlled by a specific government or central bank. This means that a virtual currency can be a means to keep investors' money in countries that go through a decline in currencies or a capital outflow due to inflation.