Upbit Listing Sparks 58% Rally in BIO Token

Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has announced the listing of BIO Protocol’s native token (BIO), triggering a sharp rally in the asset’s price and trading activity. According to the exchange, BIO trading will officially begin today at 18:00 Korean Standard Time (KST).

BIO will be available across three trading pairs—Korean Won (KRW), Bitcoin (BTC), and Tether (USDT)—with deposits and withdrawals supported exclusively via the BIO-Ethereum network. Upbit urged users to verify the contract address before depositing, listing the supported address as 0xcb1592591996765ec0efc1f92599a19767ee5ffa.

Temporary Restrictions to Stabilize Trading

To maintain stability at launch, Upbit has implemented short-term trading restrictions. During the first five minutes after trading opens, users will be unable to place buy orders, and sell orders priced more than 10% below the previous day’s close will be blocked. For the first two hours, only limit orders will be accepted. The exchange stated that these measures aim to curb excessive volatility and ensure a fair market opening.

BIO Price Surges and Volume Explodes

The listing news immediately ignited a market reaction. BIO jumped from $0.086 to $0.136, representing a 58% spike before settling around $0.111, still up more than 30% since the announcement. Trading volume soared over 532%, surpassing $134 million within hours.

The surge marks a strong rebound for the token, which had cooled off after a record rally in August. The renewed momentum underscores Upbit’s outsized influence on altcoin price action, often described by traders as the “Upbit effect.”

DeSci Market Rallies in Tandem

The excitement surrounding BIO’s listing also rippled across the Decentralized Science (DeSci) sector. According to CoinGecko, the total market capitalization of DeSci tokens climbed to $820 million, an 11.5% gain over the past 24 hours.

Industry analyst Simon Dedic commented on X: “Everyone knows what an Upbit listing can do by now. But have you ever seen a single Upbit listing send an entire category? Just when you think DeSci is dead, BIO comes out and single-handedly runs it back.”

While the broader crypto market also saw modest gains, the DeSci segment outperformed other categories, including meme coins, NFTs, privacy coins, and DePIN projects. Tokens such as VitaDAO (VITA), Curetopia (CURES), and Pinealon (PNL) all posted double-digit increases, signaling renewed investor interest in science-driven blockchain initiatives.