The Daily: Crypto prices plunge in South Korea as President declares martial law, XRP Ledger reduces account reserve to 1 XRP and more

Happy Tuesday! In today's Daily, crypto prices tumble in South Korea as President Yoon Suk-yeol declares martial law, XRP Ledger developers reduce the base reserve for accounts amid XRP's price surge, BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF surpasses 500,000 BTC in AUM and more.

Meanwhile, bitcoin exchange reserves drop to their lowest levels in years, according to CryptoQuant.

Let's get started.

Crypto prices tumble in South Korea as President declares martial law

President Yoon Suk-yeol declared emergency martial law Tuesday night at around 10:30 p.m. local time, triggering cryptocurrencies to plunge on Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone, the country's most widely used exchanges.

• Bitcoin dropped around 12% on Upbit at one point, while Tether's USDT stablecoin briefly dropped to 84 cents.
• Double-digit falls were also spotted in most altcoins, including XRP, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin.
• Upbit's mobile trading app became inaccessible, likely due to a surge in traffic.
• In a televised address, President Yoon announced the measure to "safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements," according to CNN.
• Martial law in South Korea refers to the imposition of direct military control over civilian government functions, typically in response to a significant threat to public order.
• The last emergency martial law declaration in South Korea happened in 1980.

XRP Ledger developers lower base reserve for accounts by 90%

XRP Ledger developers have reduced the base reserve for accounts by 90% from 10 XRP to 1 XRP amid a surge in the price of the cryptocurrency.

• The base reserve requirement represents the minimum amount of XRP that must be held in an XRP Ledger account to keep it active.
• XRP Ledger validators collectively approved the adjustment through a fee voting process, aiming to lower the cost of creating and maintaining accounts to boost network activity.
• The timing of the reduction coincides with a substantial price rise for XRP, which has surged over 400% during the past month, according to The Block's XRP Price Page.
• XRP's price momentum is driven by Ripple's stablecoin developments, potential pro-crypto SEC leadership changes and anticipation of spot XRP ETF approvals, according to analysts.

BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF surpasses half a million BTC in assets

BlackRock's IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF has surpassed half a million BTC ($48 billion) in assets under management — less than a year after trading began.

• IBIT's $338.3 million (3,526 BTC) worth of net inflows on Monday was enough to tip it over the milestone, reaching 500,380 BTC, according to K33 data — 2.38% of bitcoin's total 21 million supply.
• "The consistent and strong inflows to IBIT and its peers throughout the year have been a central source of BTC's push to new all-time highs and highlight the extent to which ETFs improved access to BTC exposure for new pockets of capital," K33 Head of Research Vetle Lunde told The Block.
• Following a record $6.6 billion in net inflows during November, the combined U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs are now closing in on the 1.1 million BTC estimated to be held by Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Coinbase CEO says he will not work with law firms that hire crypto-hostile former SEC staff

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the crypto exchange will not work with law firms hiring former SEC staff deemed hostile to the industry.

• "We've let all the law firms we work with know that if they hire anyone who committed these bad deeds in the (soon to be) prior administration, we will no longer be a client of theirs," Armstrong posted to X late Monday.
• The Coinbase CEO claimed that partners at these law firms seemed "unaware of the crypto industry’s position on this," highlighting Milbank’s appointment of former SEC Enforcement Division Director Gurbir S. Grewal as a partner in October. "We don't work with them now (and never will while he works there)," Armstrong said.
• As the security watchdog's top cop, Grewal filed enforcement actions against several U.S.-based crypto companies, including Coinbase and Kraken.
• "Let your law firms know that hiring these folks means losing you as a client," Armstrong urged other crypto businesses.

Pump.fun hits monthly revenue all-time high

Solana-based memecoin launcher Pump.fun hit a record monthly revenue of $93 million in November, according to DeFiLlama data — a 207% increase from October's all-time high of $30.5 million.

• Meanwhile, Pump.fun's cumulative revenue reached $240 million, reflecting renewed investor interest and activity on the platform after a two-month decline in August and September.
• A whopping 4.2 million memecoins have now been deployed via Pump.fun since its launch in January, per Dune Analytics.

In the next 24 hours

• Eurozone PPI figures are released at 5 a.m. ET on Wednesday. U.S. mortgage data follows at 7 a.m.
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will speak at 4 a.m. ECB President Christine Lagarde follows at 8:30 a.m. and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak at 1:45 p.m.
• W3N gets underway in Estonia. India Blockchain Week begins in Bangalore.

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