Upbit adds Reserve Rights (RSR) to Korean won market; price hits 4.98 won in first minute

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit opened Korean won (KRW) and Tether (USDT) trading for Reserve Rights (RSR) at 2:05 p.m. KST on Oct. 12. RSR had traded on Upbit only in its BTC market since September 2020, and the exchange announced the new markets in a notice posted at 1:54 p.m. the same day. The move was not a new listing but an expansion of the markets for a token Upbit already supported.

The Korean won market swung sharply as soon as it opened. The first trade went through at 3.95 won at 2:10 p.m., when the buy-order restriction was lifted, and the price climbed to 4.98 won within that same minute. That was more than double the previous day's BTC-market close that Upbit cited in its notice, equivalent to 2.262 won. RSR later fell as low as 2.92 won between 2:30 p.m. and 2:39 p.m. and was trading at 3.38 won at around 3:30 p.m.

Won-market turnover tops bitcoin's

RSR turnover in Upbit's won market reached about 29.9 billion won as of around 3:30 p.m., the third-largest across the exchange's won market since 9 a.m. that day, behind Tether (USDT) and Worldcoin (W). That exceeded bitcoin's won-market turnover of about 29.3 billion won at the same time. In the BTC market where RSR had traded until now, turnover over the 24 hours from 9 a.m. on Oct. 11 came to just 0.026 BTC, or roughly 3 million won.

Prices abroad moved right after the notice as well. On Binance, RSR/USDT jumped about 80%, from $0.001666 at around 1:50 p.m., just before the notice, to $0.002999 between 2:20 p.m. and 2:29 p.m., and stood at $0.002459 at around 3:30 p.m. RSR in Bithumb's won market also began rising between 1:50 p.m. and 1:59 p.m., climbing from the previous day's close of 2.225 won to 3.903 won before easing to 3.236 won.

The futures market heated up too. Open interest (the value of contracts not yet closed) in Binance's RSR perpetual futures grew more than fivefold, from $1.72 million at noon to $9.34 million at 3 p.m. As of around 3:30 p.m., the projected funding rate for the next settlement at 5 p.m. was -2%, the floor set by Binance. A negative funding rate means holders of short positions, which bet on a decline, pay a fee to holders of long positions. The funding rate was 0.01% at each of the previous four settlements.

Upbit trades above Bithumb and Binance

At around 3:30 p.m., the Binance price converted to won was about 3.30 won. Upbit's price of 3.38 won was about 2.5% higher, carrying a kimchi premium (the gap between prices on Korean exchanges and global markets). At the same time, Bithumb's price of 3.236 won was about 1.8% below the converted Binance price.

Upbit also set restrictions in its notice to limit disruption right after trading began. For about five minutes after the start, it blocked buy orders and, over the same period, rejected sell orders priced more than 10% below the previous day's close. For about two hours after trading began, it allowed only limit orders. These reference prices were based on Upbit's BTC-market price.

What Reserve does

According to Upbit's notice, Reserve is a protocol that lets anyone issue and operate on-chain index products called Decentralized Token Folios (DTFs). Each DTF is backed 1:1 by a basket of digital assets and can be minted and redeemed permissionlessly. RSR is used for staking, which protects DTFs against default risk in their collateral assets, and for governance.

The RSR traded on Upbit is an Ethereum-based token. In January 2022, Upbit temporarily suspended RSR deposits and withdrawals during a replacement of the RSR contract (the token's smart contract) and later resumed them at the new address. Upbit has recently been adding won markets for existing tokens, adding Bifrost (BFC) on Sept. 10 and Numeraire (NMR) on Oct. 6 to its won and USDT markets in the same way.