Korean Crypto Volumes Surge with PROVE’s Breakout
Last week saw notable new listings across Korean exchanges, with Upbit adding Succinct and Story Protocol, and Bithumb introducing Succinct and Treehouse. Despite the overlap in listings, Upbit maintained a dominant lead in trading activity, regularly surpassing $3 billion in daily volume and peaking above $8 billion on July 24. In comparison, Bithumb’s highest daily volume during the same period was around $2.7 billion, keeping the market share gap firmly in Upbit’s favor.
XRP continued to dominate on both exchanges, posting $3.19B on Upbit and $1.31B on Bithumb. ETH followed in second place on each platform, with $2.17B on Upbit and $671M on Bithumb. On Upbit, newly listed PROVE made an impressive debut in third place with $1.10B, ahead of BTC ($1.02B) and other high-volume assets like ENA, SOL, DOGE, and OMNI. Meme token PENGU remained a cross-exchange favorite, ranking in the top 10 on both platforms. Bithumb’s top five also included USDT ($621M) and PENGU ($335M), alongside BTC and ENA. Overall, Upbit not only retained its lead in total volume but also showcased a wider spread of trending assets, with new market entrants like PROVE making a strong early impact.
2. Exchanges
2-1. Newly Listed Coins
Last week, major Korean exchanges introduced several new listings:
- Upbit listed Succinct and Story Protocol.
- Bithumb listed Succinct and Treehouse.
| Date | Upbit | Bithumb |
|---|---|---|
| 8/4 (Mon) | ||
| 8/5 (Tue) | ||
| 8/6 (Wed) | Succinct (PROVE) | Succinct (PROVE) |
| 8/7 (Thu) | ||
| 8/8 (Fri) | Story Protocol (IP) | Treehouse (TREE) |
Key Marketing Strategies & Takeaways
🔹 Succinct (PROVE)
Succinct’s entry into the Korean market began with its community. When the testnet was first launched, participation was limited to a small number of people. This exclusivity attracted early alpha-seekers, who quickly spread the word, and once a few KOL channels picked it up, awareness grew rapidly.
In Korea, there is a tendency for people to join in once they see others moving, and Succinct seemed to benefit from this effect.
The users who onboarded during this phase became a strong early support base, actively sharing testnet guides and updates.
As the Korean market gained more recognition within the industry, the Succinct team also began to focus on it. They visited Korea, hosted offline events, and engaged directly with community members, which helped solidify their presence.
Access to the Succinct testnet required a code, and the team made sure to distribute these codes to interested users and to channels that had contributed significantly, running code giveaway events to further grow the community.
While the limited participation could have created a sense of exclusivity that shut people out, Succinct instead gradually opened the door to those who showed genuine interest. This approach is likely one of the reasons they were able to maintain strong momentum all the way to a successful TGE without the community becoming stagnant.
🔹 Treehouse (TREE)
Treehouse’s marketing in Korea was executed as a short-term intensive campaign. Since DeFi projects can feel less approachable to much of the Korean community, the focus was on highlighting the project’s core strength in the fixed income market and raising awareness. To achieve this, the team worked with a large number of KOLs to prioritize clear and broad information delivery.
Through Telegram channels run by those KOLs, the team shared what Treehouse is, the products and services it offers, and the ways people could get involved at the time. They also tied these messages to the TGE announcements from major global exchanges like Binance and Bybit, building anticipation in Korea for potential local exchange listings.
2-2. Trading Volume
Upbit maintained its dominant position in Korea’s crypto market last week, consistently outpacing Bithumb in daily trading volume. Upbit’s volume frequently exceeded $3 billion and peaked above $8 billion on July 24, while Bithumb’s highest daily volume remained near $2.7 billion during the same period. The gap between the two platforms stayed clear, with Upbit holding the majority market share throughout the week.
On Upbit, XRP once again topped the chart with $3.19B, followed by ETH ($2.17B) and newcomer PROVE ($1.10B), which made a strong debut in the third spot. BTC ranked 4th at $1.02B, with other notable entries including ENA ($641M), SOL ($615M), DOGE ($566M), and OMNI ($340M). Meme token PENGU maintained its presence in the top 10 with $289M in volume.
Bithumb’s rankings were similar at the top, with XRP ($1.31B) and ETH ($671M) leading the way. USDT ($621M) took 3rd place, while BTC ($432M) and PENGU ($335M) rounded out the top five. Other notable tokens included ENA, DOGE, and SOL, with PROVE entering Bithumb’s list at 10th place.
In summary, while both exchanges shared similar leaders in XRP and ETH, Upbit remains the clear market leader not only in total trading volume but also in diversity of trending assets, with notable new entries like PROVE making a strong impact on its charts.
2-3. Top 10 Gainers
During the past week, Upbit saw strong momentum among select mid-cap tokens, with PENDLE leading the gains by rising 41.93%, followed closely by ENA at 37.96% and LINK with a solid 28.44% increase. These notable rallies highlight renewed interest in decentralized finance and oracle-related projects amid broader market stability.
On Bithumb, speculative activity was even more pronounced with SOON surging an impressive 128.77%, substantially outpacing other gainers. LDO also recorded significant gains, climbing 68.12%, while AERO posted a solid 58.12% increase. The strong performance of these smaller-cap altcoins suggests active trader demand and rotation into higher-risk assets on this exchange.
Overall, the top gainers across both Upbit and Bithumb indicate a clear appetite for select DeFi and layer-2 tokens, with Bithumb’s exceptionally high increases reflecting more aggressive speculative positioning compared to Upbit’s relatively measured rallies.
3. Korean Community Buzz
3-1. Another Delay for Korea’s Crypto Tax?
Korea’s crypto taxation, currently scheduled for January 2027, may face yet another delay. Originally set to take effect in 2022, the implementation has already been postponed three times due to investor pushback, with the most recent extension announced last year. Lee Mija, Chair of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee, recently stated that even if the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) launches next year, the design of tax items and administrative costs make another deferral likely. She also pointed out that nearly 47% of Korea’s 7 million crypto traders are under the age of 30, suggesting that political considerations—particularly ahead of the 2026 local elections—could make it difficult for policymakers to push the tax forward.
3-2. Rising Telegram Mindshare After Meetup
DeSpread’s Telegram Mindshare dashboard shows IRYS climbing to the #2 spot last week, trailing only ABSTRACT, which has long held the top position. One KOL remarked, “IRYS has jumped to second place after the meetup. The meetup definitely had an impact in terms of mindshare.” The IRYS meetup, held on August 1, generated a wave of recap content across Twitter and Telegram, demonstrating strong community engagement.
3-3. 150M KRW in 8 Months from Airdrops?
A KOL recently shared a list of projects they joined for airdrops in 2025, along with proof posts from the time, sparking significant buzz in the community. Their post, which began with “Could I have made this much just by being consistent in 2025?”, garnered over 30K views and nearly 100 comments after being forwarded among KOLs. They commented, “Even just doing airdrop tasks can meaningfully grow your seed capital. While I’m not much into socializing or attending events, the ‘yapping’ and meetup meta are actual profit-making opportunities, so it’s worth weighing the opportunity cost regardless of personal preference.” Community members responded with praise such as “So respectable,” “Truly consistent,” and “If you keep at it, anything is possible.”
4. Web3 Event
This week, starting Monday, there are three AMAs lined up! Let’s dive in and join them one by one starting today.
4-1. OVERTAKE AMA with Wecrypto
Today, through this AMA, we’ll take a quick yet comprehensive look at OVERTAKE’s past, present, and future. We look forward to your active participation! TGE is SOOOON
📅 Date & Time: August 11, 6:00 PM (KST)
📍 Location: Venue: Wecrypto X Space
4-2. Injective AMA
Injective’s NinjaLabs is hosting an AMA!
Since this AMA will feature multiple speakers, we look forward to your active participation!
📅 Date & Time: August 11, 8:00 PM (KST)
📍 Location: Venue: Ninja Labs Korea X space
4-3. WardenProtocol AMA
Warden Protocol is hosting an AMA!
We will be giving away 500 PUMP to 5 winners and 200 PUMP to 10 winners through a random draw among participants, so don’t miss out!
📅 Date & Time: August 11, 8:00 PM (KST)
📍 Location: Venue: Philip’s X Space
It’s been an exciting week in Korea, with various events taking place and a dynamic market keeping us all on our toes! Stay tuned for more updates, and if you'd like to receive this report every week, make sure to subscribe. For the latest news and insights on the Korean market, follow us on Twitter for all the action!