'Ripple' Loved by Koreans... Top KRW Exchange Trading Volume

Largest Share of Ripple Trading Volume in Major KRW Markets
Domestic Exchange Trading Volume Also Rising After Securities Controversy Ruling

Ripple Labs, the issuer of the virtual asset Ripple, has effectively won the securities-related lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it has been confirmed that Ripple holds the highest trading volume share among major domestic cryptocurrency exchanges. As Ripple trading increased, the overall trading volume of the exchanges naturally rose compared to before.

Image source=AP Yonhap News

According to CoinGecko, a virtual asset market status relay site, on the 19th, Ripple accounted for the highest trading volume on major Korean won market exchanges such as Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit. As of 2:30 PM that day, Ripple's trading volume share on Upbit was the highest at 33.1%. The daily trading value of Ripple on Upbit was approximately 677.4 billion KRW, which was more than five times greater than the 24-hour trading value of 134 billion KRW for the virtual asset SUI, which had a 9.2% trading volume share.

On other major Korean won market exchanges, Ripple's trading volume share overwhelmingly ranked first. On Bithumb, Ripple's trading volume share was 51.3%, which was 33.9 percentage points higher than Bitcoin's 17.4%, the second highest. On Coinone, Ripple's trading volume share was 57.2%, the highest, and its trading frequency exceeded Bitcoin's 16.5%. Additionally, on Korbit, Ripple's trading volume share exceeded 60%, the highest among major Korean won market exchanges.

The significant increase in Ripple's trading volume share on domestic exchanges is due to the U.S. court ruling in favor of Ripple Labs in the securities-related lawsuit, which caused Ripple's price to surge and attracted market attention.

On the 13th (local time), Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in the lawsuit filed by the SEC, which claimed Ripple was an illegal security, stating that "Ripple Labs did not violate federal securities laws by selling Ripple to general investors on exchanges." However, the court found that selling Ripple to institutional investors such as hedge funds violated federal securities laws. Following this ruling, Ripple Labs was effectively deemed the winner in the securities controversy, and Ripple's price, which had remained at $0.47 (approximately 596 KRW) until the 13th, soared to $0.88 the next day. As of 3:53 PM that day, it was trading at $0.78.

Additionally, the domestic virtual asset market's particularly high interest in Ripple appears to have contributed. According to data from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission, as of the end of last year, Ripple's market capitalization share on domestic Korean won market exchanges was 17.2%, second only to Bitcoin's 21.2%.

Thanks to Ripple's popularity, the overall trading volume of exchanges also showed an increasing trend. For Upbit, the average daily trading volume as of midnight on the 14th of this month was $1.38708 billion (approximately 1.7567 trillion KRW), but at the same time the next day, it surged 4.38 times to $6.06881 billion (approximately 7.6861 trillion KRW). Although the trading volume later showed a declining trend, it still recorded $1.75107 billion as of midnight on the 18th, remaining higher than before Ripple Labs' victory. Although the trading volume amounts differ, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit showed similar patterns.

However, the industry remains cautious about judging Ripple Labs' victory as a positive factor sufficient to end the 'crypto winter.' An industry insider said, "It is clear that the market reacted positively, such as the sharp rise in Ripple's price after the ruling, which is positive from the exchanges' perspective." However, they added, "Since Bitcoin's price, which had risen to the $31,000 range, has dropped back to around $30,000, and the price increase is limited to Ripple and related coins, it remains to be seen whether the virtual asset market will continuously recover."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.