Around 22:30 KST, Korean president Yoon Seok-yeol declared martial law takes effect immediately throughout Korean peninsula.
Here is what happened: panic selling of Bitcoin started, and at certain point, bitcoin was traded 40% lower than in global markets.
Why? Bitcoin cannot be physically owned. In the case of such emergencies, transactions are hard to be made. People looked for sweet Korean won, which was decreasing in value real time due to crisis, rather than Bitcoin.
When geopolitical crisis happens, gold prices are affected first, as it is considered a “safe asset” compared to any currencies or assets. What happened in Korea is just another proof that Bitcoin is considered speculative assets rather than a digital gold.