ApeCoin (APE) Goes up 2,000% on Major Korean Exchange: What Happened?

ApeCoin, or simply APE, recently stole the show on the crypto market, soaring 2,000% on Upbit, Korea’s largest exchange. The sudden jump in value caught the attention of investors and analysts, prompting questions about the reasons behind this crypto-madness.

APE’s twentyfold rise in price coincided with Upbit suspending deposits and withdrawals of ETH and tokens from the ERC20 network, causing a stir among Korean retail investors. While there is no specific reason for such unusual pricing behavior, there is speculation that it is APE that Korean crypto enthusiasts are starting to pump up during periods of withdrawal and deposit freezes.

At the same time, a warning appeared on Upbit’s CoinMarketCap page opposite the APE/BTC pair that there may be an outlier in token volumes on the exchange. Such a disclaimer could signal the artificial nature of APE’s recent trading on Upbit. The token’s trading volume on the Korean exchange is now reported to be $100 million, double that of Binance.

At its peak, the APE vs. BTC pair on Upbit reached a value of 0.003 BTC, which is around $90. It is important to note that ApeCoin only has this pair on the Korean crypto platform. ApeCoin is currently trading at $30 on Upbit, which is significantly different from the token’s price of $4.44 on Binance. However, at the same time, arbitrage of this currency is not possible due to the very suspension of transactions with ERC-20 tokens ahead of the Shanghai hard fork.