South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, have simultaneously announced the listing of two altcoins, Espresso (ESP) and Seeker (SKR), triggering immediate and substantial price rallies. Upbit, the nation's premier exchange, officially announced the listing of Espresso (ESP), with trading set to commence on February 24, 2025, at 08:00 UTC (17:00 KST). The launch is a multi-market affair, providing immediate liquidity across three trading pairs: ESP/KRW, ESP/BTC, and ESP/USDT.
The strategic importance of the direct Korean Won (KRW) pairing is highlighted by analysts, as it provides a fiat gateway for South Korea's massive retail investor base, historically leading to pronounced price discovery in the first 24-48 hours. The dual crypto pairings cater to international and institutional traders. In a separate but related move, Upbit also announced the listing of Seeker (SKR) against the same three pairs (KRW, BTC, USDT), with trading starting at 16:00 KST on the same day. Bithumb joined in, announcing its own listing of ESP in the KRW market, also set for 17:00 KST with a reference price of 149 KRW.
Both exchanges have implemented standard volatility management protocols for the new listings. This includes temporary restrictions on buy orders for approximately five minutes after trading begins, blocks on sell orders priced significantly below the reference price, and an initial period (around two hours) where only limit orders are permitted. These measures are designed to ensure market stability during the initial launch phase.
The announcements had an immediate and powerful impact on the tokens' markets. Espresso (ESP) surged more than 50%, reaching a new all-time high of $0.16. Seeker (SKR), the native token of the Solana Mobile ecosystem, experienced an even more dramatic rise of over 62%. Trading volume for SKR skyrocketed by more than 700%, with Bithumb accounting for roughly 33% of the total activity, underscoring the intense interest from the South Korean market.
The listing of Espresso is particularly significant from a technological standpoint. Espresso Systems provides a decentralized shared sequencing layer, a critical piece of infrastructure for rollups (Layer-2 scaling solutions) on networks like Ethereum. The ESP token is central to this ecosystem, used for governance of the Espresso DAO, staking to secure the network, and paying fees for sequencing services. The Upbit listing, therefore, is seen not just as a speculative event but as a tool for ecosystem development, providing the active Korean Web3 developer community direct access to a foundational infrastructure token.
This move signals Upbit's continued commitment to listing technologically substantive projects and is viewed as a positive endorsement within South Korea's maturing regulatory framework for digital assets. The event underscores the significant influence major Korean exchanges wield in driving liquidity and adoption for new crypto assets.
