South Korea’s brief martial rule didn’t just rattle the country — it shook crypto markets, too.
Bitcoin, very briefly, plummeted to nearly $60K locally, while XRP more than halved to $1.16 on Upbit, the country’s biggest crypto exchange, as local traders scrambled to sell and dodge deeper losses.
Lawmakers had to block soldiers from entering the main hall of the National Assembly after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared military rule on Tuesday. The chaos meant it took lawmakers six hours to unanimously vote to overrule him.
As the political drama played out, traders in the nation got busy. Local exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax posted a combined $34 billion in trading volume, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Upbit alone handled more than $27 billion.
Both Bitcoin and XRP trading on South Korean exchanges have since rebounded to global averages at more than $95K and $2.6 respectively. But big money was made and lost.
South Korea has long been a crypto hotspot, with small investors driving trading volumes and prices to higher levels. But the collapse of South Korean national Do Kwon’s terraUSD stablecoin in 2022, which resulted in $60 billion losses globally, brought stiffer regulations and put a damper on the market.
Read more: Crypto’s X(RP) factor emerges from Bitcoin’s shadow
Then, Donald Trump’s win last month sparked crypto hype worldwide, including South Korea. Daily trading volumes on local exchanges reached nearly $10 billion from November 5 to 28.
With demand for digital assets burgeoning, South Korean politicians delayed on Sunday their planned 20% capital gains tax on crypto by two years — saying they that it needed to be refined.
Going fishing
So when this full-blown political K-drama happened, there was tax-free money to be made. And savvy traders outside the country also snagged big discounts on majors.
Lookonchain data shows a surge of USDT flowing into Upbit, signaling a wave of bargain hunters scooping up the dip.
Moral of the story? When South Korea’s market gets wild, it might be your next big buying opportunity.
