South Korean Cryptocurrency Trading Volume Surges to $34 Billion Amid Controversy Over Martial Law

A monumental spike in cryptocurrency trading took South Korea by storm on December 3 as the country grappled with the imposition of martial law.

The Korean digital currency market saw its trading volumes soar to an all-time yearly peak of about $34.6 billion over the span of a day.

XRP Spearheads Trading Volume Surge

Local media coverage, referencing CoinGecko figures, indicated that trading in the Won Market Exchange from the morning of December 3 to the same time the next day, reached approximately 49 trillion won ($34.6 billion), trouncing the earlier record of near 34.7 trillion won ($24.5 billion) set the previous day.

Upbit significantly led the charge in the South Korean crypto exchange arena, notching up a staggering 39.69 trillion won ($28 billion) in trades. Not far behind was Bithumb with 8.99 trillion won ($6.35 billion), while Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax reported trading volumes of 760 billion won ($537 million), 260 billion won ($183.7 million), and 11.5 billion won ($8.1 million) respectively.

XRP, from Ripple, made a considerable impact on the market, boasting a trading volume of 11.13 trillion won ($800 million) on the Upbit platform alone.

In a related vein, emerging research from 10X highlighted another massive achievement for the South Korean crypto landscape, showing retail trading reaching a robust $18 billion on December 2, the year’s second most significant volume. Here, XRP again played a pivotal role, contributing over $6.3 billion to the total volume.

The soaring interest in XRP has seen it climb impressively over the prior month, eclipsing the $2.80 mark for its first time in nearly seven years. Present CoinGecko statistics show the cryptocurrency trading at $2.63, a meteoric 420% rise from the preceding month.

Crypto Markets React to Martial Law Announcement

The declaration of martial law on December 3 at 10:30 PM by President Yoon Seok-yeol appeared to signal an upswing in crypto market volatility, with pronounced fluctuations in buying and selling behaviors.

Major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, witnessed dramatic value slides, some plummeting by 30-40%. On the day of the announcement, Bitcoin experienced what is known in the sector as a “flash crash” on Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

In a brief span lasting under 15 minutes, Bitcoin’s value nose-dived to about $61,500, shedding nearly 30% before making a swift recovery.

After intervention by the National Assembly, martial law was retracted by President Yoon by the early hours of December 4 at 4:30 AM.