Korean traders push altcoin rally after Upbit’s $36M hack halts arbitrage
South Korean crypto traders are driving sharp price jumps in locally listed altcoins following a major security breach at the exchange Upbit, according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju.
In an X post on Thursday, Ju explained that Upbit’s temporary suspension of withdrawals—triggered by an “abnormal transaction” worth around $36 million—has taken arbitrage bots offline. With automated trading paused, local buyers are exerting far more influence on short-term price movements.
“Upbit got hacked and paused withdrawals, but Koreans are pumping alts since arbitrage bots are no longer running,” Ju wrote.
Without the usual selling pressure from arbitrage activity, certain altcoins on the Korean market surged. Crypto trader R2D2 reacted by calling the situation “unbelievable,” while analyst A79 remarked, “Hack happens, and Koreans just flip it into a rally.”
Upbit said the unauthorized transaction involved roughly 54 billion won (~$36 million) in assets—primarily Solana-based tokens—sent to an unknown wallet. Coins affected reportedly include BONK, Official Trump (TRUMP), MOODENG, and Render (RENDER).
Upbit promises to absorb all losses
The exchange emphasized that the breach was limited to its hot wallet; customer assets stored in cold wallets were not compromised. Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok reassured users that Upbit would cover the entire loss: “We will cover the full amount to prevent any damage to our members’ assets.”
The incident also confused some observers unfamiliar with Korean market conventions—charts in Korea display price increases in red and declines in blue.
The hack puts renewed attention on Dunamu just after it announced a $10 billion acquisition deal with fintech giant Naver. It also occurred on a grim anniversary: exactly six years after Upbit’s 2019 hack, which resulted in nearly $50 million in losses and was attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Report: China shows strong signs of Bitcoin mining recovery
China’s Bitcoin mining activity is once again growing despite the nationwide mining ban introduced in 2021. Reuters reported Thursday that the country has rebounded to become the world’s third-largest mining hub, supported by cheap electricity and expanded data-center capacity in high-power regions.
A miner identified only as Wang said he resumed mining last year due to abundant, low-cost energy in areas like Xinjiang. “A lot of energy cannot be transmitted out of Xinjiang, so you consume it in the form of crypto mining,” he explained.
Wang added that mining growth is unlikely to slow: “New mining projects are under construction. People mine where electricity is cheap.”
Patrick Gruhn, CEO of Perpetuals.com, noted that local economic incentives often shape how Chinese policy is applied regionally, allowing mining to quietly resurface.
Thailand orders worldcoin operations shut down over biometric violations
Thailand is moving to shut down Worldcoin’s activities in the country over concerns tied to its handling of sensitive biometric data.
The Personal Data Protection Committee has ordered TDIC Worldverse, the project’s local operator, to delete the biometric and personal information of roughly 1.2 million Thai users, Bangkok Post reported. Regulators said the decision aims to prevent possible misuse or illegal transfer of the data.
Authorities argue that Worldcoin’s practice of collecting iris scans in exchange for WLD tokens violates Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act, citing inadequate protections around user consent for sensitive biometric information.
Worldcoin—co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman—uses a device known as the Orb to scan users’ eyes and create a cryptographically secured digital identity. Participants receive tokens as compensation, a model that has attracted intense regulatory scrutiny worldwide.
Thailand now joins Kenya, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, and other nations that have taken action against Worldcoin. According to Bangkok University lecturer Dhiraphol Suwanprateep, penalties in Thailand will likely be softer than those imposed elsewhere.
