South Korea’s Crypto Trading Volume Hits Record $34B Amid Martial Law Controversy

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

Trading volumes in the Korean virtual asset market skyrocketed to approximately $34.6 billion within 24 hours, marking the highest recorded level of the year.

XRP Drives Record Trading Volume

According to local reports citing CoinGecko data, from 9:00 AM on December 3 to 9:00 AM on December 4, trading volumes across the Won Market Exchange reached around 49 trillion won ($34.6 billion). This figure surpassed the previous high of around 34.7 trillion won ($24.5 billion) recorded just a day earlier.

Upbit emerged as the dominant player among South Korea’s crypto exchanges, recording 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), and 11.5 billion won ($8.1 million), respectively.

Notably, a significant portion 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 the South Korean crypto market. A recent 10X research revealed that the country’s retail crypto trading volumes surged to $18 billion on December 2, marking the second-highest level of the year.

The increase was driven by major trading activity in several altcoins. In this instance, too, Ripple’s XRP led the charge, contributing over $6.3 billion in trading volume to the total.

XRP has been experiencing a remarkable rally over the past month, surpassing the $2.80 threshold for the first time in almost seven years. According to CoinGecko data, at the time of writing, the token was trading at $2.63, up over 420% in the last month.

Market Reaction to Martial Law Declaration

The increase in trading volume coincided with South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol’s declaration of martial law on the evening of December 3, around 10:30 PM. The announcement triggered significant volatility in the crypto market, causing rapid buying and selling activity shifts.

As the news broke, major digital currencies experienced large declines in value, with many dropping 30-40%. Bitcoin was one of the affected assets. On December 3, the token’s price faced what industry insiders call a “flash crash” on Upbit, the nation’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

The incident lasted less than 15 minutes, during which Bitcoin’s price plunged to around $61,500, a drop of about 30%. However, it quickly recovered shortly after the decline.

Following a resolution from the National Assembly, President Yoon lifted martial law by 4:30 AM on December 4.