The war of words between the U.S. and North Korea has raised demand for cryptocurrencies at the expense of traditional “safe” havens such as U.S. Treasuries and gold.
Ron Chernesky, CEO of InvestFeed Inc., a trading platform that is switching from equity to cryptocurrency trades, said investors are transferring to cryptocurrencies to diversify their risk should there be a market downturn. He said cryptocurrencies have moved from a niche space to one that is more widely accepted since they are less correlated to other assets.
Koreans are seeking refuge in Ethereum, which saw its trading volume jump to $2.6 billion on Wednesday, marking a 60% gain over bitcoin’s. This marks the second time Ethereum’s trading volume has surpassed bitcoin’s, according to The South China Morning Post.
Much of Ethereum’s gain has been driven by South Korean buying. The Korean won comprises more than 40% of Ethereum trading volume, making it the highest among currency pairs, according to coinmarketcap.com. Ethereum jumped 4% on Thursday to $304, the highest since June.
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