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.
Meanwhile, the crypto exchange Coinone accumulated a trading volume of more than $531 million in the past 24 hours. This was followed by Korbit with $192 million worth of crypto trading volume and Gopax with nearly $9 million.
The South Korean martial law came into effect on Dec. 3 at 23:00 KST. Citizens were banned from conducting protests and the media was placed under government control. The nation’s parliament and political groups were forbidden from holding activities that would challenge the law.
President Yoon decided to enact emergency martial law because he claimed it was a necessary precaution to protect the country from “North Korea’s communist forces” and to “eliminate anti-state elements.” Though, many have speculated that it was a desperate act done to combat the domestic pressure that could lead to the President’s impeachment.
What impact did the South Korean martial law have on the crypto market?
Shortly after the martial law was decreed, political unrest broke out in South Korea. Thousands of South Koreans rushed to the heavily-guarded parliament building to protest, after politicians criticized Yoon’s decision as illegal and unconstitutional.
According to the BBC, footage from the site showed some protesters fighting police at the gates. Even regulators had to climb over fences to make it to the voting chamber so that they could overrule the martial law.
As previously reported by crypto.news, crypto prices in South Korea plummeted along with the South Korean won. Bitcoin (BTC) price fell to its lowest level since Oct. 5 at around 88 million won. Ethereum (ETH) also reached its lowest level as it fell to 4.2 million won.
Meanwhile, the price of other altcoins like Ripple (XRP), Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Solana (SOL) plummeted by double digits.
This evident drop in crypto prices was caused by investors rushing to liquidate their assets in the midst of the political chaos. Similar sell-offs occurred after the Ukraine war started and the COVID-19 pandemic.
