South Korea Hits Unexpected "Black Swan," Whales Rush In to Grab Cheap Tokens
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
South Korea Hits Unexpected "Black Swan," Whales Rush In to Grab Cheap Tokens
Bitwise senior investment strategist Juan Leon said Bitcoin's discount on South Korean exchanges reflects a "pooling" of liquidity within centralized venues.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy BitpushNews
Political black swans strike when least expected.
Fueled by the fallout from South Korea's martial law declaration, the Korean won and local stock market plunged. On Upbit, South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, BTC briefly dropped to $61,600. According to Upbit data, immediately after the martial law announcement, Bitcoin's price in Korean won (KRW) crashed from 130 million KRW to 93.6 million KRW—nearly a 33% decline. Major altcoins on the platform also saw double-digit losses, including XRP—which had recently surged—as well as Shiba Inu and Dogecoin.
Whales Buy the Dip
This turmoil created arbitrage opportunities for savvy traders.
Unlike previous years, when smart money could buy Bitcoin at lower prices on exchanges in Hong Kong and North America and sell it at a premium in South Korea—the so-called "Kimchi premium"—this time the situation allowed for the reverse.
According to Lookonchain, amid the market downturn in South Korea, many whales transferred large amounts of USDT to Upbit to snap up discounted tokens.
Data shows that within one hour of the South Korean president's emergency martial law announcement, major traders moved over $163 million worth of USDT to Upbit. "Many whales are transferring large amounts of USDT to Upbit, likely seeking bottom-feeding opportunities," Lookonchain said on X. With both panic sellers and bargain hunters flooding the platform, Upbit temporarily suspended its app and open API services due to increased traffic, experiencing delays.
In the early hours of December 4 local time, President Yoon Suk-yeol lifted the martial law order—just over six hours after imposing it. Bitcoin prices on Upbit slightly recovered, reaching approximately $88,600 at the time of publication.
"The discount on Bitcoin at Korean exchanges reflects liquidity 'trapped' within centralized venues," said Juan Leon, Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise, in a statement. He noted that despite Bitcoin being a decentralized asset traded around the clock, disruptions can still occur when "localized events" create sudden constraints.
XRP Whale Activity Soars to All-Time High
Bitpush data shows that the XRP token has surged nearly fourfold over the past month, becoming the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
CryptoQuant data reveals that XRP whale activity has hit an all-time high. CryptoQuant analyst Woominkyu pointed out that historically, sharp spikes in whale-level XRP transactions have been "closely correlated with price peaks." This surge in transaction activity recently pushed the coin to a peak near $2.60, suggesting whales may be "preparing for potential profit-taking or heightened market activity."
Analysts believe XRP’s momentum is driven by Ripple’s upcoming stablecoin launch, anticipated pro-crypto leadership changes at the SEC, and growing expectations for spot XRP ETF approvals. Recently, at least five firms—including Grayscale, WisdomTree, Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary Capital—have filed applications to launch spot XRP ETFs in the United States.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
比推 BitpushNews
