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Tron (TRX) jumped up by 80% within the last 24 hours following a declaration of martial law in South Korea.
Market data shows that Tron went from $0.2342 24 hours ago to $0.4343 earlier today — a jump of over 85.4%. Since then TRX corrected down to $0.3887 at the time of writing, which is still nearly 67% up from 24 hours ago.
What happened in South Korea
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on live television on Dec. 3. He accused the opposition of sympathizing with North Korea and declared the activities of the National Assembly (the country’s parliament), local councils, political parties, rallies, and demonstrations illegal while also putting media under military control.
Following the declaration, nearly 300 military personnel entered the National Assembly. Party officials successfully defended the building and voted against martial law; the military soon dispersed. Soon after, the Cabinet lifted martial law just hours after its establishment.
Why it matters to crypto
South Korea is home to one of the largest and most reactive retail cryptocurrency markets. It also has stringent capital control, leading to the famous kimchi premium—referring to a typical South Korean side dish—with Bitcoin (BTC) trading even over 50% higher in the country compared to the rest of the world.
Following the martial law declaration, Bitcoin’s price fell to $62,000 on leading South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, according to data tracked by TradingView. Upbit and its local competitor Bithumb both experienced outages as people moved assets off-exchange in mass amid the coup attempt.
Rachael Lucas, crypto analyst at BTC Markets, suggested that Tron saw such an uptick in price because it surfaced as the favorite transfer asset used by South Korean cryptocurrency holders looking to move assets off local exchanges. She told crypto news outlet The Block:
“TRX’s role as a widely used transfer token between exchanges, especially in South Korea, makes it a tool for traders looking to move funds across platforms quickly.”
