South Korea's Crypto Market Sees Massive Trading Surge on Upbit

The South Korean crypto market has seen a significant rebound in trading activity after a quiet first half of the year. On Saturday, Upbit, the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, recorded approximately $830 million in trading volume within just one hour. This is the highest single-hour trading volume on the platform since mid-March.

XRP dominated the trading activity, accounting for 32.20% of Upbit's 24-hour volume, well ahead of other assets such as TRUMP, USDT, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. XRP's strong performance coincided with a broader recovery in the token's price, which had gained around 35% over seven days following Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse's participation in White House talks.

The resurgence in trading activity on Upbit and other exchanges suggests that South Korean investors are returning to crypto markets after shifting focus to domestic equities earlier this year. Bithumb, another major exchange in the country, saw its daily trading volume increase by 132.9% to $934.9 million on August 21.