Yesterday, the South Korean crypto market suffered a violent drop after an emergency martial law was declared. This sparked a sell-off that sent the price of most cryptocurrencies to monthly lows.
Following the turmoil, local bourses recorded record daily trading volume for the second day in a row, almost doubling the previous milestone.
South Korea Crypto Trading Volume Hits Record Day
On Tuesday, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP (XRP), and most cryptocurrencies experienced a massive price drop on South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges following the first declaration of an emergency martial law in the country in 44 years.
Bitcoin price fell violently against its South Korean won trading pair on local exchanges, falling around 33% to RWM 88.26 million, worth around $62,000, on Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange , Upbit.
Similarly, Ethereum retreated 38% to trade at 3.12 million KRW, or approximately $2,200. Meanwhile,
In the midst of the shaking, the whales deposited over 163 million USDT to Upbit, apparently targeting “background phishing opportunities.” Notably, local crypto exchanges recorded a massive increase in trading volume, hitting their 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 volumes of $531 million and $192 million, respectively. Massive volumes added over $34 billion traded in 24 hours on these exchanges, surpassing the $18 billion milestone of December 2 by 88%.
On Monday, 10x Research founder Markus Thielen revealed that South Korea’s cryptocurrency volume had recorded its second-highest level this year, surpassing the $14 billion traded on the local stock market by 22%.
According to the report, retail trading volumes in South Korea had seen a massive increase, with XRP leading the way. The cryptocurrency recorded volume of $6.3 billion on Monday, followed by Dogecoin’s $1.6 billion and Stellar’s $1.3 billion.
Thielen noted that “these high-momentum cryptocurrencies are predominantly being driven by retail traders, capitalizing on and reinforcing momentum-driven trends.”
The Declaration of 6 Hour Martial Law
President Yoon Suk Yeol announced The measure was broadcast live on television, causing panic among Koreans for the following hours. During the briefing, 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.
For context, a declaration of martial law replaces civilian rule with military rule, restricting free speech, protests, and civil rights. It also allows for special changes in the authority of governments or courts and a system of guarantees under the provisions of related laws.
Yoon claimed to have taken the measure to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.” However, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-Myung announced that they would attempt to overturn the order as required by Korean law and was broadcast live climbing the doors of the National Assembly.
It is worth noting that under Korean law, the president must lift emergency martial law if parliament requests it with a majority vote of its members. About three hours after the declaration, 190 of the 300 parliamentarians present voted against martial law, which was accepted by the president a few hours later.
Since the market crash, most cryptocurrencies have recovered and are 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
