Yesterday, the cryptocurrency market in South Korea suffered a sharp decline after declaring a state of emergency. This caused a massive sell-off that brought the prices of most cryptocurrencies to monthly lows.
After the turmoil, local stock exchanges saw record daily trading volume for the second day in a row, nearly double the previous figure.
Cryptocurrency trading volume in South Korea sees record day
On Tuesday, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and most cryptocurrencies saw their prices drop significantly on cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea following the first declaration of a state of emergency in the country in 44 years.
Bitcoin’s price fell sharply against the South Korean won trading pair on local exchanges, falling nearly 33% to 88.26 million RWM, worth about $62,000, on Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit.
Likewise, Ethereum fell 38% to trade at 3.12 million Korean won, or roughly $2,200. Meanwhile, XRP saw the biggest bounce among the top three cryptocurrencies, falling 60% from the 4,000 KRW mark to a low of 1,623 KRW, or about $1.23.
Amid the tremor and the whales Deposited More than $163 million to Upbit, apparently aimed at “phishing opportunities.” It is worth noting that local cryptocurrency exchanges recorded a huge increase in trading volume, reaching the second record trading volume this week.
Obit registered A whopping $27.25 billion trading volume on December 3, followed by Bithumb with $6 billion, while Coinone and Korbit’s daily trading volume reached $531 million and $192 million, respectively. The massive volumes added more than $34 billion in 24-hour trading across these exchanges, surpassing the December 2 record of $18 billion by 88%.
On Monday, 10x Research founder Markus Thelen open Cryptocurrency trading volume in South Korea has reached its second-largest level this year, exceeding $14 billion traded on the local stock market by 22%.
According to the report, retail-focused trading volumes in South Korea saw a massive surge, with XRP leading the way. The cryptocurrency recorded $6.3 billion in volume on Monday, followed by Dogecoin at $1.6 billion and Stellar at $1.3 billion.
“These high-momentum cryptocurrencies are mostly driven by retail traders, capitalizing on and strengthening momentum-driven trends,” Thelen noted.
Declaration of martial law for 6 hours
President Yoon Suk-yeol Announce The action was broadcast live, causing panic among Koreans over the following hours. During the press conference, he accused the country’s opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in the National Assembly, of sympathizing with North Korea and anti-state activities.
In context, declaring martial law replaces civilian government with military rule, restricting freedom of expression, protests, and civil rights. It also allows for special changes to the authority of governments or courts and the search warrant system under the provisions of relevant laws.
Yoon claimed that he took this action in order to “eliminate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.” However, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung announced that they would try to overturn the order as stipulated in Korean law and live-streamed himself climbing the gates of the National Assembly.
It is worth noting that under Korean law, the president must lift a state of emergency if Parliament requests it by a majority vote of its members. About three hours after the announcement, 190 of the 300 current members of parliament voted against martial law, which was approved by the president a few hours later.
Since the market crash, most cryptocurrencies have recovered, trading above pre-military law levels. As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at 135.2 million Korean won, which is equivalent to about $95,400 USD.
Bitcoin is trading at $96,138 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com