Ethereum Treasuries “Propped Up” By $6 Billion In Korean Retail Money, Says Crypto Founder

As Ethereum (ETH) steadily approaches its all-time high (ATH), some industry leaders believe that the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is not entirely benefiting from organic demand. Rather, it is being “propped up” by Korean investors looking to make a quick ￰0￱ Being Held Up By Korean Investors? In an X post earlier today, crypto entrepreneur Samson Mow made some interesting observations on ETH’s current price ￰1￱ crypto executive attributed ETH’s current heightened price to Korean retail investors. Specifically, Mow stated that approximately $6 billion worth of Korean retail capital is supporting Ethereum ￰2￱ blamed ETH influencers who are reportedly traveling to South Korea to market the digital asset to retail ￰3￱ addition, the founder of AQUA Wallet said ETH investors are not fully aware of the ETH/BTC chart, and are under the false impression that they are buying the “next Strategy.” He cautioned that it will not end well for ETH ￰4￱ recall, Strategy is the leading public company when it comes to the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) held on its balance ￰5￱ to data from Coingecko, Strategy currently holds 640,031 BTC, worth more than $48 billion at prevailing market ￰6￱ it comes to Ethereum-based treasury firms, BitMine leads the pack, holding more than 2.5 million ETH worth approximately $12.4 ￰7￱ firms like SharpLink Gaming (838,728 ETH), Coinbase ((136,782 ETH), Bit Digital (120,306 ETH), and ETHZilla (102,246 ETH) round up the top five in the ￰8￱ are several signs that the Ethereum trading market in South Korea may be reaching overbought ￰9￱ instance, the ETH “Kimchi premium” surged to 1.93 on October 5, a significant surge from -2.06 observed in July 2025 when the cryptocurrency traded below $3,000.

For the uninitiated, the Kimchi premium refers to the price difference where cryptocurrencies trade at higher prices on South Korean exchanges compared to global ￰10￱ premium arises from strong local demand, limited capital flow out of Korea, and regulatory barriers that prevent easy arbitrage between Korean and international exchanges. On-Chain Data Suggest Strong Demand For ETH In contrast to Mow’s opinion, on-chain data shows that both institutional and retail demand for ETH is not showing any signs of slowing ￰11￱ continues to stack ETH despite it trading close to its ATH ￰12￱ the same time, ETH-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to attract an increasing amount of inflows.

Recently, US-based spot ETH ETFs attracted record inflows worth $547 ￰13￱ press time, ETH trades at $4,701, up 4.4% in the past 24 hours.