It’s no secret to any of our passionate followers that many of the citizens of South Korea could be considered our biggest fans. It is this nation’s cryptocurrency investors who have thrown the most substantial and enthusiastic support behind the EnergiToken (ETK) project. And the opportunity for this support to grow is tremendous as South Korea is quickly becoming one of the most cryptocurrency-friendly economic regions in the world.

The South Korean cryptocurrency market punches above its weight, ranking third in the world, which is quite remarkable when one considers that the second largest cryptocurrency market is Japan’s, whose GDP is three times the size of South Korea’s (the United States ranks first, in case you were wondering) — all this from a country whose population ranks 27th and whose GDP ranks 11th in the world. Up against these much larger markets, South Korea has proven it can hold its own when it comes to involvement and support for the cryptocurrency market.

In fact, the passionate support for crypto has caused what has become known as the “Kimchi premium” (Kimchi, by the way, is the national dish of Korea) — prices are pushed higher in South Korea because traders here are willing to pay substantially more for a given cryptocurrency than the rest of the global market. At one point in time in early 2018, the market portfolio website Coinmarketcap removed South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges from their price calculations because their higher market valuations caused the entire global market average to skew high. This caused what appeared to be an apparent nasty drop in prices to site visitors, and may have contributed to panic-selling that resulted in a sudden drop of $100 billion in the global cryptocurrency market.

Yet again, South Korea looks to be leading the way as regulations are allowing for a broader acceptance of cryptocurrency. Crypto exchanges are now being recognized in the nation as legal entities, according to this recent announcement. Cryptocurrency exchanges will now be considered to be “Blockchain-based software supply and development businesses” (source). This gives more clarity and certainty to eager investors in Korea who may be waiting in the wings to safely invest in cryptocurrencies. Ultimately, this move will encourage broader crypto adoption in the nation, with economic implications for the rest of the world as other G20 countries are likely to follow Korea’s lead.

Again, this is great news for any fan of EnergiToken. We have been thrilled with the ongoing enthusiastic encouragement we have received from our Korean supporters. Korea’s efforts to determine legal clarity bode well for the long-term health of the EnergiToken project as it rapidly grows in partnerships and real-world application. Let’s hope more of the world’s forward-thinking nations follow suit!

For more information about EnergiToken and its energy-saving reward scheme, please visit www.energitoken.com, follow on Twitter at @EnergiMine or join the Energi Mine Telegram group.