The digital asset PROS experienced a significant price increase of 47.8% to reach $0.9457, driven by new listings on major South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb. This move expanded access for Korean traders to the Pharos network token.
Upbit announced it would support PROS trading against the Korean won, Bitcoin, and Tether starting May 8 at 8:30 PM local time, with deposits and withdrawals opening within 90 minutes after the notice. The exchange emphasized that users must use the Pharos network for deposits to avoid delays.
According to CoinGecko, the 24-hour trading volume for PROS soared 209.6% to $28.7 million, bringing its market capitalization to approximately $127.5 million and ranking it at number 255 on the platform. The token also posted a 45.7% gain over the past week, outperforming the broader crypto market.
In addition to Upbit, Bithumb also listed PROS in its Korean won market on the same day, providing another avenue for local investors. Following the listing, Upbit implemented standard controls, including a five-minute restriction on buy orders at the start of trading and a temporary ban on sell orders priced more than 10% below the previous closing price. Limit orders were the only option for about two hours to ensure orderly trading as liquidity developed.
Pharos is a blockchain platform compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), utilizing an asynchronous BFT-based proof-of-stake consensus. It employs parallel processing to support Web3 applications and real-world asset tokenization. A report by Messari highlights its modular Layer 1 architecture, targeting 30,000 transactions per second and sub-second block times, while integrating both EVM and WebAssembly runtimes.
This listing comes amid heightened activity on Upbit, which recently added B3 and Dogwifhat to its markets. However, experts caution that while new listings can attract rapid retail interest, they may also lead to volatile short-term price movements. South Korea’s crypto environment is also facing stricter anti-money laundering regulations, which could increase reporting burdens for exchanges.