Crypto market rally driven by whales as Coinbase Base hits $1B in tokenized stock volume

The cryptocurrency market saw a significant rally in September, with total market capitalization increasing by approximately $270 billion. However, data from South Korea suggests this growth is being driven by large-scale institutional investors, or “whales,” rather than retail traders. The Korean retail participation index has declined during this upward trend, and the “Kimchi Premium” has turned negative, indicating that prices on local exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb are lower than on global platforms.

In a separate development within the digital asset sector, Coinbase reported that trading volume for tokenized stocks on its Base network—an Ethereum layer-2 platform—has exceeded $1 billion in just one month. These tokenized assets allow investors to purchase fractional shares of traditional equities, signaling robust market interest in integrated financial products despite mixed signals in the broader crypto market.