Signs of Bottom Fishing on Upbit After South Korea’s Martial Law-Led BTC Flash Crash

Large
amounts
of
USDT
were
moved
to
the
crypto
exchange,
hinting
at
increased
market
activity,
according
to
Lookonchain.

Updated
Dec
3,
2024,
4:51 p.m.
UTCPublished
Dec
3,
2024,
4:36 p.m.
UTC

Whales
made
a
splash
on
the
South
Korean
exchange
Upbit,
swooping
in
with
significant
amounts
of
Tether’s
USDT
stablecoin
to
snap
up
coins
at
discounted
prices
after
the
declaration
of
martial
law
led
to
a
flash
crash
in
bitcoin
(BTC)
and
other
token
prices.

The
large
traders
transferred
over
$163
million
in
USDT
to
Upbit
within
an
hour
of
President
Yoon
Suuk
Yeol
declaring
emergency
martial
law,
according
to
data
tracked
by
blockchain
sleuth
Lookonchain.
The
president
accused
the
opposition
of
siding
with
North
Korea
and
undermining
the
nation’s
constitutional
order.

USDT,
the
world’s
leading
dollar-pegged
stablecoin,
is
commonly
used
for
cryptocurrency
purchases.
The
influx
hints
at
a
wave
of
bargain-hunting
among
traders.

“Many
whales
transferred
large
amounts
of
USDT
to
Upbit,
likely
aiming
for
bottom-fishing
opportunities,”
Lookonchain
said
on
X.

BTC
fell
as
low
as
$63,000
on
Upbit
after
the
martial
law
announcement
and
has
since
recovered
to
trade
near
$94,000,
still
at
a
slight
discount
to
the
global
average
$95,800,
according
to
data
source
TradingView.

The
emergency
may
trigger
concern
of
censorship,
driving
more
investors
toward
seizure-resistant
assets
like
BTC.