South Korea witnessed a record $34.2 billion in cryptocurrency trading volume over 24 hours following a brief declaration of emergency martial law by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The unusual trade activity unfolded across the country’s major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Leading the surge was Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange, which processed $27.25 billion alone.
Trade Volume across South Korean Exchanges Double
The overall volume nearly doubled the $18 billion recorded just a day prior, a figure that had already made headlines for eclipsing the daily turnover of the local stock market.
Notably, this marked the highest single-day trading volume of the year, as reported by local crypto outlet Digital Asset.
The spike in trading activity came amid political turmoil. Late Tuesday night, President Yoon declared martial law, citing threats to democracy from “anti-state” forces allegedly tied to the opposition left-wing party.
The emergency measures, which lasted six hours, triggered panic among South Korean traders, leading to widespread sell-offs on local exchanges.
Bitcoin’s price on Upbit dropped to 88 million won ($62,182) at one point, as reported by News1.
Other cryptocurrencies also experienced significant price declines, while exchanges grappled with service outages due to the surge in activity.
By early Wednesday morning, lawmakers convened an emergency session, unanimously voting to overturn the martial law order.
President Yoon subsequently rescinded the directive.
Despite this, the political fallout continues. The opposition party announced plans to file treason charges against Yoon, along with the Ministers of Defense and Interior, and is pushing for their impeachment.
Meanwhile, on decentralized prediction platform Polymarket, speculation about President Yoon’s political future intensified.
The odds of a $500,000 bet on his early departure from office surged to 78% before stabilizing at 47%.
If Yoon completes his term, it is set to end in May 2027.
South Koreans Turn to Crypto
A recent survey has revealed that most young South Koreans are losing faith in the national pension system, with many stating they see crypto and stocks as a better alternative.
The study found that more than three-quarters of people aged 20-39 “don’t trust” state-issued pensions.
Over half of respondents who said they were making their own pension plans claimed they were building their retirement funds with stocks and crypto.
Interestingly, even election candidates themselves have exposure to cryptocurrencies, with approximately 7% of them owning digital assets, according to a report by Yonhap that analyzed their asset disclosures.
Just recently, it was reported that South Korea is set to introduce stricter regulations for token listing on exchanges, including the blocking of tokens that have been hacked.
As reported, South Korea has once again postponed the implementation of its 20% tax on cryptocurrency gains, marking the third delay since the tax was first proposed in 2021.
The latest decision, announced earlier this month, will push the tax implementation to 2025, following an agreement between the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) during budget negotiations.
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