South Korea’s Crypto Trade Volume Hits Record $34 Million Amid Martial Law Controversy

On December 3, South Korea witnessed a historic surge in cryptocurrency trading as the nation faced the declaration of martial law.

Trading volumes in the Korean virtual asset market soared to approximately $34.6 billion in 24 hours, marking the highest level on record for the year.

XRP drives record trading volume

According to local reports citing data from CoinGecko, from 9:00 a.m. on December 3 to 9:00 a.m. on December 4, trading volumes on the Won Market Exchange reached about 49 trillion won ( 34.6 billion dollars). That number surpassed the previous high of about 34.7 trillion won ($24.5 billion) set just a day earlier.

Upbit emerged as the dominant player among South Korean crypto exchanges, registering a trading volume of 39.69 trillion won ($28 billion). Bithumb followed with 8.99 trillion won ($6.35 billion), while Coinone, Korbit and Gopax accounted for 760 billion won ($537 million), 260 billion won ($183.7 million dollars) and 11.5 billion won ($8.1 million), respectively.

In particular, a significant part of this activity was driven by Ripple’s XRP, which recorded a trading volume of 11.13 trillion won ($800 million) on Upbit alone.

This development follows another major milestone for South Korea’s crypto market. A recent 10X research revealed that the country’s crypto retail trade volumes rose to $18 billion on December 2nd, marking the second highest level of the year.

The increase was driven by significant trading activity in several altcoins. Here, too, Ripple’s XRP led the charge, contributing more than $6.3 billion in trading volume to the total.

XRP has experienced a remarkable rally over the past month, breaking the $2.80 threshold for the first time in nearly seven years. According to data from CoinGecko, at the time of writing, the token was trading at $2.63, up 420% over the past month.

Market reaction to the declaration of martial law

The surge in trading volume coincided with the declaration of martial law by South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol on the night of December 3 at around 10:30 p.m. The announcement caused significant volatility in the crypto market, causing rapid changes in buying and selling activity.

When the news broke, major digital currencies saw huge drops in value, with many falling between 30 and 40%. Bitcoin was one of the affected assets. On December 3, the token’s price faced what industry experts call a “flash crack” on Upbit, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

The incident lasted less than 15 minutes, during which the price of Bitcoin fell to around $61,500, a 30% drop. However, he quickly bounced back soon after the fall.

Following a resolution of the National Assembly, President Yoon lifted martial law at 4:30 am on December 4.

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