Credit:iStock.com/ByoungJoo
Earlier this week—as investors were in the thick of the holiday rush—South Korean authorities debated how to curb the irrational exuberance of cryptocurrencies.
The proposals ranged far and wide.
One idea was to close certain exchanges, another was to crack down on anonymous transactions. Whatever the regulators decide, it seems inevitable that Korea will tighten its rules as opposed to opening them up.
Investors didn’t take the news too kindly.
Ethereum prices fell to the low $700.00s; Bitcoin dropped below $15,000; Bitcoin Cash lost its No. 3 spot to Ripple—there was pain virtually across the board.
However, that pessimism was short-lived for Ethereum and Bitcoin. Investors seemed to recall that both market leaders are supported by a geographically diverse base of support.
South Korea may be a central hub for cryptocurrencies, but there’s no exchange within the country that accounts for more than 10% of either Bitcoin or Ethereum trading volumes. Put another way, the closure of some exchanges wouldn’t really hurt demand that much.
I was actually more concerned that the news would damage Ripple prices, given that Korean exchanges have at times accounted for 70% of XRP trading volumes. But XRP is widening its base of support as well, which is perhaps why it outran the storm.
Daily Ethereum Chart:
Ethereum Prices and Trading Volumes
Investors sent ETH up 3.29% at the time of writing.
This brought the Ethereum to USD exchange rate up to $756.09. At the same time, the Ethereum to Bitcoin rate jumped 1.82% to 0.05211190 BTC.
Binance was the most prominent exchange on Friday, raking in 7.84% of total volumes in the form of ETH/BTC pairs. Ethfinex came in second place with 6.49%, while Bitfinex followed close behind with 6.48%.
Analyst Take
We see no reason to alter our $1,500 Ethereum price forecast for 2018.
Also Read: Ethereum Price Prediction for 2018
Source: Price Confidential
