Long time no see, I'm back.
Memecoins follow a predictable pattern when being listed on Korean exchanges. Altcoins targeting Korea, especially memecoins, often adhere to the same playbook.
Before diving in, here's my perspective: Bithumb, much like Bybit, aggressively pursues new tokens, while Upbit resembles OKX and Binance—conservative and focused on maintaining a legitimate exchange image. This isn't to say Bybit and Bithumb aren’t legitimate, but they tend to follow trends.
Next, why do crypto projects desire Korean CEX listings so much? Shiba Inu accounts for 19% of global trading volume on Upbit, establishing it as a cornerstone asset on the exchange. As of March 5th, 2024, it recorded trading volumes exceeding 2.2 trillion Korean won within 24 hours, more than double that of Bitcoin.
Now, let's take a look at them memecoins.
$BONK pulled off an offline event in Korea with over 1,000 attendees, a much tougher feat than gathering 1,000 people on Telegram. Following event was held in 24th February, 2024.
We have an exciting @UncommonGallery event hosted with @SolanaFndn @orca_so and BONK!
Doors will open EARLY at 5pm for approved guests participating in rewarding activations thanks to the brains behind @longeye_monstre and BONK cards provided by…
537
$MEW has been flooding Telegram with ads and teamed up with Burrito Wallet (a Bithumb subsidiary) for a joint event when Burrito Wallet started supporting Solana. They also announced a partnership to create an animation with a Korean company called LOCUS(never heard of them, tbh).
부리또월렛 x MEW(@MewsWorld)
고양이 밈 대표인 $MEW가 한국에 왔다냥!부리또 월렛 커뮤니티에서 다양한 이벤트도 함께하고 있으니 잘 부탁한다냥!
MEW in Burrito (app.burritowallet.com/community/proj…)
캣인어독스월드(#MEW) 원화 마켓 추가 안내New Listing : $MEW will be added to the KRW market today.
For more details
feed.bithumb.com/notice/1644837#bithumb #Listing #KRWmarket #MEW @MewsWorld
$BRETT did the same, working with Korean Telegram KOLs, creating an official Korean group, and quickly amassing about 1,400 members with ongoing events.
Following is $BRETT's campaign in Seoul, Korea.
Global mega brand things ur memecoin probably wouldn’t understand
Do you see the pattern here? Exchanges are constantly looking for token holders who will generate revenue for them by trading. If there seems to be strong community support and if a project reaches certain KPIs, there's no reason not to list these tokens. However, I'm not exactly sure how certain tokens make it to the Korean market among the many available. But when tokens invest heavily in expensive offline events in Korea, kickstart Korean-language communities, and get frequently mentioned in Telegram groups, we can guess that they're trying to meet specific criteria.
It's fascinating that $BRETT was listed on Coinone before making its way to Bithumb. Typically, upgrading to a higher tier on a cryptocurrency exchange is quite challenging for projects. I checked Coinone's $BRETT daily trading volume—it's only about $109,183. How did Brett manage to get listed on Bitthumb? 🤔
New Listing $BRETT
#Brett Gets Listed on Coinone.
브렛이 코인원에 거래지원됩니다.
자세한 사항은 coinone.co.kr/info/notice/31… 를 참고해주세요.
Pair : BRETT/KRWDeoosit : Now OpenTrading : 7/1 17:00(KST)
However, looking at the case of $ENS being listed on Upbit's KRW market after already being listed on Coinone, it seems to be a trend in Korea to list on lower-tier exchanges first and then move up to higher tiers. This trend may be influenced by changes in coin regulations in the Korean market, which I'll explore further next time.
Examining memecoins listed on Coinone—from $BOME and $BONK to $MEME, $SEILOR, Solana, and Base, as well as Sei Network—it's clear they span a wide range. Ultimately, token listings are naturally conservative, but as evidenced by Coinone's current listing trends, it seems they've embraced the meme narrative.
This isn't surprising given the abundance of talented researchers and content creators in Korea who can explain memes that Americans find amusing but Koreans might find challenging to understand, so, time for a shameless shill to MORBID-19 who explains the meme narrative in depth.
https://x.com/JuhyukB
https://www.youtube.com/@juhyuk
Anyway, exchanges are competing with each other. AND Exchange listing managers also do feel the FOMO. If they see the possibility of losing traders' attention by not listing a certain project's token, they will list it to keep users on their platform.
Next time, I'll delve into how market makers operate and explore why Korea is renowned for the Kimchi Premium.
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