Yesterday, the South Korean crypto market suffered a violent fall after the declaration of emergency martial law. This caused a massive sell-off that sent the price of most cryptocurrencies to monthly lows.
After the turmoil, local exchanges recorded record daily trading volume for the second day in a row, almost doubling the previous mark.
Crypto trading volume in South Korea sees record day
On Tuesday, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP (XRP) and most cryptocurrencies saw a massive price drop in South Korean crypto exchanges following the first declaration of martial law. emergency in the country in 44 years.
Bitcoin’s price fell violently against its South Korean won pair on local exchanges, falling around 33% to 88.26 million RWM, worth around $62,000, on the most Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit.
Similarly, Ethereum fell 38% to trade at 3.12 million KRW, or around $2,200. Meanwhile,
Amid this upheaval, whales deposited more than US$163 million on Upbit, apparently targeting “bottom-up phishing opportunities.” Notably, local crypto exchanges saw a massive increase in trading volume, reaching its second record volume this week.
Upbit recorded a massive trading volume of $27.25 billion on December 3, followed by Bithumb’s $6 billion, while Coinone and Korbit had daily volume of $531 million and $192 million, respectively. The massive volumes added more than $34 billion traded in 24 hours on these exchanges, surpassing the December 2 milestone of $18 billion by 88%.
On Monday, 10x Research founder Markus Thielen revealed that South Korean cryptocurrency volume recorded its second-highest level this year, surpassing the $14 billion traded on the local stock market by 22%.
According to the report, retail-focused trading volumes in South Korea saw a massive increase, with XRP leading the way. The cryptocurrency recorded $6.3 billion in volume on Monday, followed by $1.6 billion for Dogecoin and $1.3 billion for Stellar.
Thielen noted that “these high-momentum cryptocurrencies are primarily driven by retail traders, capitalizing on and strengthening momentum-driven trends.”
The declaration of 6 o’clock martial law
President Yoon Suk Yeol announced the measure on live television, causing panic among Koreans in the hours that followed. During the press briefing, he accused the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in the National Assembly, of sympathizing with North Korea and its anti-state activities.
For context, a declaration of martial law replaces civilian government with military rule, restricting freedom of expression, demonstrations, and civil rights. It also permits special modifications of the authority of governments or courts and a system of warrants by the provisions of related laws.
Yoon said he took the step to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the democratic constitutional order.” Nonetheless, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-Myung announced he would try to overturn the order under Korean law and live-streamed himself climbing the gates of the National Assembly.
It should be noted that under Korean law, the president must lift emergency martial law if requested by Parliament by a majority vote of its members. About three hours after the declaration, 190 parliamentarians present out of the 300 legislators voted against martial law, which was accepted by the president a few hours later.
Since the stock market crash, most cryptocurrencies have recovered, trading above pre-martial law levels. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at 135.2 million KRW, worth around $95,400.
Bitcoin is trading at $96,138 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
