The world had gone mad.
On the streets of Seoul, grandmothers were asking their grandsons how to open an Upbit account. High school students were trading Ripple (XRP) during lunch breaks. Office workers were taking out credit card loans to buy EOS.
Kang Min-jun sat in his command center. The air conditioner was blasting even though it was winter; the heat from his mining rigs and servers was overwhelming.
He looked at two monitors side-by-side.
Monitor Left (Coinbase - USA): Bitcoin: $14,500.
Monitor Right (Bithumb - Korea): Bitcoin: 21,500,000 KRW (approx. $19,800).
"The gap is 36%," Min-jun whispered.
This was the Kimchi Premium. Because of Korea's strict capital controls, it was difficult to send Won out of the country to buy cheap Bitcoin abroad. But everyone inside the country wanted to buy. It was a closed ecosystem of hysteria. A pressure cooker.
To an arbitrageur, it was free money. If you bought 1 BTC in the US for $14,500 and transferred it to Korea, you could sell it for nearly $20,000. A risk-free $5,500 profit per coin.
But Min-jun didn't need to do the round-trip. He didn't need to smuggle cash out. He already had the inventory. He had thousands of BTC bought at $250. He had hundreds of thousands of ETH bought at $5.
"Grandpa," Min-jun called out.
Byung-ho walked in. He held a cup of tea, but his hands were steady. He had become desensitized to the volatility. "Is it time?"
"It's time," Min-jun said. "The premium is at an all-time high. The volume is frantic. We are going to sell."
"All of it?"
"No. We keep a 'Moonbag' (10%) for the long term. But we liquidate 50% of our holdings this month. Into the premium."
Min-jun opened his spreadsheet. Target Sell: 1,000 BTC. Korean Market Value: ~21.5 Billion KRW.
If he sold this in the US, he would get 15 Billion. By selling in Korea, he was making an extra 6.5 Billion Won simply because of the geographic location.
"Who has 21 billion won to buy?" Byung-ho asked. "Are there that many ants?"
"The ants are buying," Min-jun said, looking at the order book. "But look at the Buy Walls."
He pointed to a massive green bar on the Bithumb depth chart. BUY: 500 BTC @ 21,450,000 KRW.
"That's not an ant," Min-jun narrowed his eyes. "That's a Whale. Someone is desperate to enter the market. Someone who is late to the party and has too much cash."
Min-jun traced the wallet address associated with the buy order. It was a fresh wallet. Funded from a custodial account linked to a Cayman Islands shell company. Sloppy, Min-jun thought.
He ran a trace script he had developed with Park Dong-hoon (the Toss security engineer). The IP address of the funding source hopped through three VPNs, but the exit node... Yeouido. Daegwang Securities Building.
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Min-jun froze. A slow, terrifying smile spread across his face.
"Hyuk-jae," Min-jun whispered. "You idiot. You're buying the top."
December 8, 2017. Daegwang Securities. VIP Suite.
Jin Hyuk-jae was sweating. He loosened his tie. "Did we get it?"
"Yes, Director," his private broker said, wiping his forehead. "We filled the order. 500 Bitcoin. Average price 21.5 million won."
"Good. Good." Hyuk-jae paced the room. The Daegwang Construction merger had gone through, but the cost was astronomical. He had drained the corporate treasury to pay off the dissenting shareholders. The company was cash-poor. If the Q4 audit showed a liquidity hole, the banks would pull the plug.
He needed a miracle. He looked at the chart. Bitcoin Prediction: $100,000.
"If it doubles," Hyuk-jae muttered, "I fill the hole. Nobody will know I borrowed the treasury funds. I put it back, keep the profit, and save the company."
It was the classic gambler's fallacy. Embezzle to gamble, win, repay, no harm done. It worked... until it didn't.
"Sir, the price is dropping slightly," the broker warned. "Someone is dumping into our buy wall."
"Who? Who is selling?"
"Unknown. A massive wallet. It's unloading 50 BTC every minute. It's absorbing all our liquidity."
"Buy more!" Hyuk-jae screamed. "Defend the price! It has to go up!"
Mapo-gu Apartment.
Min-jun clicked the mouse. SELL 50 BTC. SELL 50 BTC.
He was feeding Hyuk-jae his coins. Every time Hyuk-jae put up a buy wall to support the price, Min-jun smashed it with selling pressure.
"Eat it," Min-jun hissed. "Eat my $250 coins for $20,000. Pay me for your stupidity."
Total Sold Today: 800 BTC. Cash Generated: ~17 Billion KRW.
Min-jun sat back. The order book was thinning. The buy wall was gone. Hyuk-jae was tapped out.
Now came the crush.
Min-jun picked up his phone. He called Hong Ye-eun.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"To launch the rumors. The Ministry of Justice is preparing a statement."
"How do you know?"
"Because the Minister is meeting with the Prime Minister right now. They are terrified of the bubble. They are going to threaten a ban."
"If they announce a ban, the price crashes."
"Exactly. And Hyuk-jae just went all-in."
January 11, 2018. The Crash.
Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki stood at the podium. "The government is preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading..."
The "Park Sang-ki Shock."
The market collapsed instantly. Bitcoin (Korea): 24,000,000 -> 18,000,000 (-25% in 10 minutes). 18,000,000 -> 14,000,000.
Panic. Screaming. On the forums, people were posting photos of shattered monitors and empty soju bottles. "Shattered Dreams."
In Yeouido, Jin Hyuk-jae watched his screen. Loss: -40%. Value Erased: 5 Billion Won.
He couldn't sell. If he sold now, he locked in the loss. He couldn't pay back the treasury. He would go to jail for embezzlement. He had to hold. He had to pray.
In Mapo, Min-jun watched the red candles. He had exited 80% of his position at the absolute peak. Cash in Bank: ~85 Billion KRW.
He was nearly a Centimillionaire (in KRW terms, 100 Billion). He looked at the chaos. He felt a pang of guilt for the ordinary people—the ants—who lost their savings. But for Hyuk-jae? He felt nothing but cold satisfaction.
"You bought the top, Hyuk-jae," Min-jun said to the empty room. "Now you hold the bag."
He opened his notebook. Goal: Acquire Daegwang Construction. Capital Required: ~300 Billion KRW for a controlling stake (post-crash). Current Capital: ~100 Billion KRW.
He was a third of the way there. He needed one last multiplier.
He looked at the date. 2018. The year of the bear market. The year where cash was King. And the year where Daegwang Group would finally begin to crack under the weight of its own corruption.
[TRANSACTION LOG]
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Date: Dec 2017 - Jan 2018
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Asset: Bitcoin (BTC) & Ethereum (ETH)
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Action: AGGRESSIVE SELL (Into Kimchi Premium).
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Quantity Sold: ~1,500 BTC / ~100,000 ETH.
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Avg Exit Price: BTC $18,000 / ETH $1,200 (KRW equiv).
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Total Proceeds: ~65 Billion KRW.
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Remaining Crypto: "Moonbag" (Locked).
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Counterparty: Retail Market + Jin Hyuk-jae (Unknown to him).
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Net Wealth: ~100 Billion KRW ($90 Million USD).
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Class: Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW).