Upbit's Shiba Inu Transfer Sparks Market Speculation
South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, has stirred up interest in Shiba Inu (SHIB) after transferring 864 billion tokens worth around $4 million between its addresses.
The sudden wallet activity took place following a 36% price surge driven by local demand. The transfer occurred in two stages: first, 384 billion SHIB was moved from Upbit's hot wallet to related platform addresses in four equal transactions, and then the official Upbit: SHIB wallet transferred 480 billion tokens back to the original address.
The on-chain structure may indicate routine technical liquidity rebalancing, but the timing raises questions about whether Upbit is preparing for another wave of market activity with SHIB.
South Korea continues to be a key driver in SHIB trading, with Upbit's Korean won pair leading global activity and surpassing Binance's SHIB/USDT pair by turnover. The token is currently trading at around $0.0000046 on Upbit, almost matching prices on Binance and OKX.
Maintaining high liquidity across its hot wallets may explain the transfers, but the large-scale movement of funds has traders on heightened alert given South Korea's retail market has already shown its ability to move prices independently.