South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb simultaneously introduced KRW trading pairs for privacy-focused Ethereum layer-2 token Aztec (AZTEC), igniting a sharp rally in what had been a relatively thin market.
AZTEC jumped roughly 82% over 24 hours to trade near $0.035, fueled by a surge of won-denominated buying after the dual listings went live.
Listings on major Korean platforms often act as powerful catalysts. Adding a KRW pair effectively shifts a token from being accessible primarily through crypto-to-crypto markets to being directly purchasable by one of the world’s most active retail trading bases.
South Korea consistently ranks among the top countries globally for crypto trading activity relative to its population. Upbit, in particular, frequently rivals or even surpasses Coinbase in daily spot volume during peak sessions.
A direct KRW pair eliminates the need to route through stablecoins such as USDT, integrates the token into Korea’s highly active spot market ecosystem, and places it prominently on the exchanges most closely watched by domestic traders. For smaller-cap assets like AZTEC, that visibility can be transformative.
Market participants often treat new listings on Upbit and Bithumb as momentum-driven events, rushing to establish positions before liquidity deepens and any initial price premium fades. Similar patterns have been observed in the past, with tokens such as VIRTUAL posting double-digit gains purely on Korean listing announcements, independent of project-specific developments.
In relatively shallow order books, this influx of demand can produce rapid, vertical price spikes — the kind AZTEC recorded. As prices jump on Korean venues, arbitrage traders typically respond by buying on international exchanges and selling into stronger local bids, helping lift global prices in tandem. During such episodes, the so-called “kimchi premium” — the price gap between Korean and offshore markets — often widens before narrowing as arbitrage activity balances the spread.
Beyond the listing catalyst, Aztec markets itself as a privacy-focused Ethereum layer 2 leveraging zero-knowledge proofs to facilitate encrypted transactions on a public blockchain, giving the token a broader narrative than exchange-driven momentum alone.
By the Asian evening session, the price premium had begun to narrow as arbitrage flows caught up and the initial surge showed early signs of cooling.
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