South Korean martial law catapults crypto trading volume to new record high with $34b
After the implementation of the South Korean martial law, the country’s five major crypto exchanges recorded a spot trading volume of over $34 billion in the past 24 hours, setting a new record high.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, in the past 24 hours the combined crypto spot trading volume from Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax reached a volume of $34.2 billion in the 24 hours leading up to 10:30 am EST.
South Korea’s trading volume surged nearly 50% after the nation’s trading volume broke its previous record with $18 billion on Dec. 2, surpassing stock market volumes by 22%. The massive surge is thought to have been triggered by the unrest in the country that followed the implementation of an emergency curfew via the martial law by President Yoon Suk-yeol. The martial law was called off after six hours.
According to local media outlet News1, South Korean traders rushed to sell their cryptocurrencies on the local exchanges which caused the prices to drop to 88 million won. Some exchanges even experienced site outages due to the massive spike in trading activity.
Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange, contributed the biggest portion of today’s crypto spot trading volume, with $27.25 billion worth of crypto. Bithumb came in second with a spot trading volume of more than $6.14 billion in the past 24 hours of trading.
