The fluctuation of the Korean won exchange rate drives demand, and major exchanges in South Korea are turning to dollar stablecoins

Last Wednesday, when the exchange rate of the Korean won against the US dollar surpassed 1480 won, the Tether trading volume on Korea's five major exchanges reached 378.2 billion won, an increase of 62%. Korbit started waiving USDC trading fees last week and launched a trading competition that will last until March, where retail investors with a weekly trading volume of 10 million won can share 25,000 USDC.

Coinone has also taken similar measures, distributing 8,000 USDC rewards to participants each week. Upbit and Bithumb are expanding by listing new assets, simultaneously launching the synthetic stablecoin USDe developed by Ethena Labs. Upbit has conducted three rounds of promotional activities, awarding Ethena tokens to top USDe traders. Industry insiders say that during market downturns, stablecoins are seen as a key means to increase trading volume and develop new revenue sources.