The South Korean project saw an odd boost on Thursday following the election of Yoon Suk-yeol as president.
okens of a renowned South Korean project, ICON, increased by up to 70% in the 24 hours following Yoon Suk-election yeol’s as the country’s president.
ICX surged from a low of $0.61 on Wednesday to over $1.04 early Thursday before retracing some of the gains. The price is still 92 percent lower than its 2018 high of $13.
If present buying pressure is not sustained, the token may fall to a support level at $0.70.
ICX is a well-known project whose protocol enables the exchange of data between distinct blockchains. It was one of the best performers during the 2017 initial coin offering frenzy before falling out of favour with investors in the years that followed.
UpBit, a Korean exchange, continues to see tens of millions of ICX moved everyday, according to data. Yesterday, however, the ICX/Korean won trade pair witnessed almost $410 million in activity. UpBit reported total trading volumes of nearly $4 billion, more than double Sunday’s $1.8 billion.
Other projects with ties to Korea suffered similar price increases. Terra, headquartered in Singapore but founded in South Korea, saw the price of its LUNA tokens reach an all-time high of $103 in early Asian hours.
As previously reported, LUNA gains were also fueled by strong demand for sister cryptocurrency TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin tethered to the US dollar.
Yoon was a former federal prosecutor who campaigned on a vow to de-regulate the cryptocurrency business. Both he and his opponent, the ruling Liberal Party’s Lee Jae-myung, have announced crypto-friendly reforms in an effort to win over younger voters, as reported.
Yoon has committed to increase the planned KRW 52.4 million (US$42,450) threshold for the 20% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency revenues. This is more than the current KRW 2.5 million threshold, which will be implemented in 2023. He also promised to “take legal action to seize illicit cryptocurrency proceeds and refund them to the victims.”
South Korea’s current government, led by President Moon Jae-in, has cracked down on cryptocurrency, despite the country becoming one of the largest marketplaces for the asset class due to its youthful, tech-savvy populace. Last year, regulatory constraints forced the closure of over 70 Korean exchanges, leaving only a few active as of Thursday.
According to analysts, similar price volatility should be expected as countries become more receptive to the industry.
“This week has been widely seen as a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency and digital asset industries,” James Wo, founder of crypto fund DFG, wrote in a Telegram message. “With two world leaders announcing their intent to concentrate on evaluating and educating themselves in order to embrace a technical breakthrough that has grown to a market cap of nearly $2 trillion with few to no safeguards, the market is reacting with high expectations.”
“As major jurisdictions adopt similar approaches, we could see significant upside volatility,” Wo said.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
