Kospi Surges 17% While Bitcoin Stagnates Near $64K

Woofun AI reports that a stark divergence emerged in global markets as South Korean stocks staged a historic rebound while bitcoin remained stagnant near $64,300. This disconnect highlights how equity rallies, particularly in the Kospi index, failed to transmit momentum to digital assets despite the severity of the prior selloff.

Bitcoin traded sideways, briefly spiking to $65,300 in early Asian hours before retreating, leaving the majors largely unchanged. Ether settled at $1,907, XRP at $1.08, Solana at $74, and dogecoin at $0.07. Trading volume reflected this lethargy, with roughly $27 billion exchanged in bitcoin and $7 billion in ether. BNB stood out as the sole exception, rising 3% to $590 and securing the only meaningful weekly gain among major assets.

The weekly performance metrics underscore the crypto sector's weakness, with Hyperliquid's HYPE down 5% over seven sessions, Solana and XRP each off 3%, and bitcoin down 2%. Ether and dogecoin managed a marginal 1% increase. In contrast, the Kospi surged 17%, recovering from a rout that had pushed it more than 40% below its June peak. Samsung and SK Hynix led the charge with jumps exceeding 23%, while Taiwan Semiconductor rose 10%, driving a broad Asian advance.

Woofun AI data shows that this equity recovery followed the Nasdaq 100 snapping a six-day losing streak, with Amazon rising nearly 10% on cloud earnings while Apple fell 6% due to supply issues. Bitcoin had tracked semiconductors closely through July, weathering a $797 billion drop in U.S. megacap technology and Korea's midweek crash.

However, it also ignored a security breach where 594 bitcoin, worth roughly $38 million, was swept from 500 wallets on Thursday via a Coldcard hardware wallet flaw, without impacting price.

Currency markets added to the complexity as the yen weakened, reversing part of its largest gain against the dollar in two years following intervention by Japanese authorities. The Bank of Japan left rates unchanged as expected, extending yen losses. Treasuries rose alongside the dollar, while oil continued its decline, signaling persistent macroeconomic uncertainty.