Speculative Tokens Drive Korean Volume, Upbit Stays on Top

1. Market Overview

Last week, Korean exchanges added a few new tokens, with Upbit listing Maple Finance and Bithumb adding Lista DAO and Merlin Chain. While both exchanges are expanding their offerings, Upbit maintained a significant lead in market dominance, recording multiple days above $10 billion in daily trading volume. XRP remained the top asset on both platforms, generating $4.89B on Upbit and $2.00B on Bithumb. STRIKE surged to second place on Upbit with $3.17B in volume, followed by SAHARA at $1.77B — a notable rise for a relatively new listing. ETH, NEWT, HYPER, and BTC also saw strong volume. On Bithumb, USDT and PENGU followed XRP in activity, with over $675M each, and other trending tokens like ENA, BONK, and WLD showed growing traction.

In terms of performance, STRIKE led Upbit’s gainers with a weekly jump of 113.73%, while ENA (+28.96%) and HYPER (+28.22%) also saw double-digit growth across both exchanges. Mid-cap names like NEWT, CRO, and PENGU showed healthy momentum, alongside infrastructure tokens like POKT, BCH, and ENS. On Bithumb, KERNEL DAO was the standout with a 47.09% rise, followed by DBR, MEV, and SPK, each gaining over 30%. Rollup-related tokens like ZRC and ALT also posted strong performances. While Bithumb continues to broaden its listings and visibility, Upbit remains firmly in control of trading volume and user activity, especially around fast-moving, narrative-driven assets.

2. Exchanges

2-1. Newly Listed Coins

Last week, major Korean exchanges introduced several new listings:

• Upbit listed Maple Finance.
• Bithumb listed Lista DAO and Merlin Chain.

Key Marketing Strategies & Takeaways

🔹 Merlin Chain (MERL)

Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin Layer 2 project that gained widespread attention in the Korean market during Q1 2024, a time when many BTC L2 projects were being launched. While numerous projects emerged during that period, Merlin stood out by holding the highest TVL among them. It successfully positioned itself as a project building its own ecosystem and implemented a well-executed KOL marketing strategy in Korea.

During that time, assets like Rune, ORDI, and other BRC-20 tokens were experiencing a boom. Merlin promoted itself as a platform where users could stake various blue-chip assets from this ecosystem, such as Quantum Cats, bitDisc-black by bitsmiley, and pups and many others to farm Merlin points. The project actively promoted this through KOL marketing, which attracted holders of high-value assets into the Merlin Chain ecosystem. This naturally led to a surge in TVL, placing Merlin firmly at the top.

To make the unfamiliar Bitcoin ecosystem more accessible, Merlin also produced onboarding content and user guides. The team had a clear understanding of the project’s accessibility challenges and delivered exactly what users were looking for. These efforts were effectively communicated to the community through KOLs.

Following its highly anticipated TGE, Merlin continued its marketing efforts in the Korean market. The vesting schedule for airdropped tokens ensured ongoing exposure in Korea. In addition to this, Merlin organized AMAs and launched a Korean community where it held various events. When a major wildfire occurred in Korea, the Merlin Foundation even stepped up to make a donation, further solidifying its presence and goodwill in the market.

2-2. Trading Volume

Despite Bithumb’s ongoing marketing campaigns, Upbit continues to lead the Korean exchange market by a wide margin in trading volume, as clearly shown in the daily volume chart. Throughout the past week, Upbit consistently maintained higher daily volume levels, even surpassing $10 billion on peak days, while Bithumb's contribution remained comparatively modest.

In terms of individual asset trading volume, XRP dominated on both exchanges, with $4.89 billion on Upbit and $2.00 billion on Bithumb, reinforcing its status as a go-to asset among Korean retail traders. STRIKE followed closely on Upbit with $3.17 billion, suggesting strong speculative interest after its recent price surge. Meanwhile, SAHARA, a relatively new listing, ranked 3rd on Upbit with $1.77 billion, showing rapidly growing traction. Other high-volume tokens on Upbit included ETH, NEWT, HYPER, and BTC — each clearing over $1.3 billion in weekly turnover.

On Bithumb, USDT and PENGU followed XRP, each registering over $675 million in volume, signaling increasing demand for both stablecoins and emerging meme or community-driven assets. Notably, tokens like ENA, BONK, and WLD also made the top 12, reflecting a more diversified spread of volume across speculative and newly listed assets.

Overall, while Bithumb has broadened its listings and visibility, Upbit remains dominant in both trading activity and user participation, particularly on trending assets and newer market entrants.

2-3. Top 10 Gainers

Over the past week, STRIKE (STRK) stood out as the top performer on Upbit, soaring by 113.73%, driven likely by renewed market interest and speculation around DeFi lending platforms. ENA (+28.96%) and HYPER (+28.22%) also posted strong gains on both Upbit and Bithumb, signaling synchronized momentum across exchanges. NEWT (+21.46%), CRO (+18.08%), and PENGU (+15.87%) followed closely, each benefiting from community-driven activity and mid-cap rotation. POKT (+13.06%), BCH (+12.14%), ENS (+11.74%), and ERA (+10.71%) rounded out Upbit’s leaderboard, reflecting diversified interest across infrastructure, L1s, and governance-related tokens.

On Bithumb, KERNEL DAO (KERNEL) led with a 47.09% weekly gain, potentially on the back of increased DAO participation narratives. DBR (+39.21%) and MEV (+36.23%) followed, both benefiting from early-stage listing dynamics and ecosystem news. SPK (+34.91%) and ENA (+30.83%) showed strong cross-exchange traction, reinforcing broader demand. ZRC (+29.43%) and ALT (+28.45%) gained momentum from rollup-related and L2 narratives, while HYPER (+28.10%) again appeared as a top mover. Rounding out the list were REI (+23.60%) and SYRUP (+23.57%), both reflecting tail-end momentum from speculative flows.

3. Korean Community Buzz

3-1. Stablecoin Heat Continues with Kaia x KakaoPay Hackathon

The stablecoin narrative remains hot in Korea, with Kaia teaming up with KakaoPay to host the first KRW stablecoin hackathon in the country. With a total prize pool of ₩100M (~$75K) and backing from regulatory bodies, the event features two tracks: an ideathon focused on KRW-based stablecoin concepts, and a hackathon on integrating Kaia-USDT.

This partnership, along with Kaia’s recent collaboration with Tether, suggests KakaoPay may be ramping up its stablecoin ambitions. Korean Web3 users responded with curiosity not only about the potential impact on Kaia’s price, but also about accessibility—many wondered if non-developers, like liberal arts majors, could participate in the ideathon.

3-2. Concerns About Bias Against Korean Founders on Domestic Exchanges

A longstanding issue in Korea’s crypto space resurfaced in the news: the apparent bias against Korean founders by domestic exchanges. Although crypto teams led by Korean nationals are common, very few projects with Korean founders manage to list on local exchanges. Many are advised to incorporate abroad or even remove Korean team members to increase their listing chances.

While institutional acceptance of crypto has improved under the current administration, the article (link) pointed out that this reverse discrimination persists—unique to Korean exchanges. Community responses included frustration and realism: “Let’s be honest, bad actors will dump regardless of nationality,” and “With all this talk of institutional adoption, I hope the market gets healthier in every direction.”

3-3. Trading Fever Grips Korea in Both Crypto and Stocks

This week, Korean crypto trading volume exploded, but it wasn’t the only market heating up. A news feature spotlighted the resurgence of retail stock trading, with classrooms packed with eager learners paying ₩500,000 (~$380) for stock trading courses. Curriculums include weekly macro updates and hands-on trading strategies, offering a more educational alternative to paid signal groups. (Source)

Crypto communities noted the overlap in risk appetite across markets, with comments like, “This might be a short-term top signal,” “Leveraged investing is still dangerous,” and “KOSPI 4,000 sounds crazy, but maybe it’s possible?” It was clear that speculative energy is running high across the board in Korea.

4. Web3 Event

What AMAs and offline events are waiting for us this week? Although there are still about two months left until KBW, new events are being updated every week.

4-1. Pyth AMA

Pyth Network is a global price layer that delivers real-time market data sourced directly from leading financial institutions around the world. By connecting with institutional-grade data providers, it brings reliable and trustworthy price feeds to the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

Through the AMA, you'll get the latest updates and key insights into the data that the Pyth team has been working with recently.

📅 Date: July 28th, 9:00 PM (KST)

📍 Location: Pyth X Space

4-2. IRYS, Korean Community Meetup

Irys is the datachain that unlocks the value of data—where data generates value for those who create it. We're building the first blockchain where data carries embedded instructions, enabling AI agents to coordinate, datasets to monetize automatically, and creators to capture value from their data.

A session is prepared under the theme of “Building the AWS of Web3,” where the future of data chains will be discussed.

If you’ve been curious about IRYS or want to engage in deeper conversations about AI, don’t miss this opportunity to join.

📅 Date: August 1st, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (KST)

📍 Location: Dreamplus Gangnam

☑️ RSVP: https://lu.ma/jro8dnra?tk=HctPQV

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!