Meme tokens may be hot, but gaining listings on centralized exchanges is still a tough process. When it comes to Upbit, a listing may be a form of vetting the token for slightly higher reliability.
Upbit, one of the leading South Korean markets, can give a boost to new assets after listing. However, the market has been relatively conservative in expanding its selection. Upbit still lists hundreds of altcoins and tokens from previous bull markets, but has been cautious even about leading meme tokens.
Upbit listed BONK after rising demand, with trading from October 22. PEPE and BRETT were only listed after two years of trading history, both starting with USDT trading pairs from August 21. The tokens were added based on the new South Korean regulatory demand for completing two years of trading.
All of the Upbit listings are also available on Bithumb, the other top South Korean exchange. Upbit may be following a strategy for adding memes that are already tested on the South Korean market. The South Korean Virtual Asset Protection Act requires that projects without a known team or a roadmap must trade for two years before being listed on the country’s crypto markets.
Bithumb listed most of its meme tokens before the new regulation came into force in July. This may limit the potential listing of new assets. The only eligible token based on the two-year rule is FLOKI. Memes must have a listing on a large enough overseas exchange, usually Binance, or OKX. However, the cutoff range is not enough to list the new generation of memes, including NEIRO and POPCAT.
The other South Korean exchange to carry memes is CoinOne, which has added BOME, Sundog (SUNDOG), and MYRO.
A listing on Upbit does not necessarily mean a lasting rally. Some South Korean traders even warned of a potential slide in all assets in the coming days, as holders realize profits. Even on Upbit, meme tokens like MEW have relatively small liquidity depth and go through significant drawdowns. MEW has been running hotter on Bithumb, where it is often among the top 5 most actively traded crypto assets.
Upbit boosts BONK, MEW in the short term
After the Upbit listing, BONK rallied to $0.000025, later sliding to $0.000022. BONK remains a volatile token, often drawing in rollovers from other Solana communities. The BONK listing arrives just a day after Upbit added a Korean won pair for Cat in a Dogs World (MEW), which rallied briefly to $0.01. Previously, MEW also got a boost after gaining its first Upbit pair on September 19.
Upbit is not trigger-happy about newer meme tokens, but has become a booster for all of its listed assets, singling them out as must-have meme tokens. The choice of PEPE and BRETT may have become outdated, but at least fit the two-year rule.
Over time, the three tokens have accrued liquidity, and PEPE succeeded in coming out of Binance’s risky list. All three tokens broke above the $1B market cap barrier, with BRETT gaining that level again in the past week, before sliding back to a $770M valuation.
Meme tokens return to volatility
Despite the more conservative regulations, meme tokens can still easily return to volatility and post bigger drawdowns. The meme token market is now correcting, sliding toward a total market cap of $56.3B from a recent peak above $60B.
The previous list of top memes is also not a guarantee that they will rule the market. Several competing groups of tokens are fighting for exposure. One of the groups are the old doge-themed coin and other early memes. That group is the most liquid and accessible even for traditional traders.
The up and coming batch of meme tokens is the one promoted by Murad Mahmudov and spearheaded by SPX6900 (SPX). Mahmudov also mentions GIGA, as well as WIF, POPCAT, and MICHI among others.
The third group is the AI-driven trend, especially GOAT. AI-generated tokens are still the riskiest and most volatile, while relying predominantly on decentralized trading.