South Korean crypto traders are at the forefront of recent rally
TRADERS in Asia, especially those in South Korea, have been among the primary drivers behind the surprising rally in digital asset market volume during the past two months.
The market share of exchanges based in South Korea rose to 12.9 per cent in November, compared with 5.2 per cent in January, according to data compiled by CCData. The rise in market share comes while overall trading volume rose in October and November.
“South Korean exchanges have played a part in the recent uptick in trading activity on centralised exchanges,” said Jamie Sly, communications manager at CCData, who added that South Korea-based exchange Upbit accounts for the majority of the volume in the East Asian country.
The digital asset market has rallied since early October on growing optimism that US exchange-traded funds will soon be authorised to hold digital assets. Bitcoin has rallied almost 40 per cent over the past month, and smaller tokens such as Solana and Avalanche have surged even more.
Traders in South Korea are in particular responsible for the rising trading volume of so-called altcoins, according to analysts at South Korea-founded blockchain data platform CryptoQuant.
“Korea does not have a futures market open for the retail investors,” said Hochan Chung, head of marketing at CryptoQuant. “As Korean retail investors find the biggest leverage opportunity in crypto, especially altcoins, it seems like the altcoin market is bigger compared to other investment assets.”
South Korea has long been known for its strong blockchain and crypto community. Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, the person behind the failed ambitious algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD, was born and raised in South Korea. The crypto community in Korea took a hit after Terra collapsed in May 2022. Even so, the country is seen by many crypto firms offering a huge opportunity, as the regulatory pushback deepens in the US. BLOOMBERG
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