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The Ethereum price struggled to break out of the $2,500 – $2,700 range over the past week, mirroring the sluggish condition of the general market. On Friday, June 20, the altcoin succumbed to a fresh wave of bearish pressure, falling toward the $2,400 mark to close the week.

Unsurprisingly, this latest downturn appears to be forcing the hands of investors who have been banking on the $2,500 support level over the past few weeks. Here’s how the falling ETH price and the resulting sell-off could affect the altcoin’s future trajectory.

ETH Price At Risk As Taker Sellers Unload Their Tokens 

In a recent post on the social media platform X, on-chain analyst Maartunn revealed that a set of Ethereum traders might be on the move again. This on-chain observation revolves around a jump in the Taker Sell Volume, a metric that estimates the total volume of sell orders filled by takers in perpetual swaps of a specific cryptocurrency (ETH, in this case).

To provide some context, a taker refers to a market participant who places an order matched with an existing order on the order book. With this definition, the Taker Sell Volume represents the total amount of a cryptocurrency offloaded or sold by these market participants within a specific period.

In the post on X, Maartunn highlighted in his post that sell pressure is mounting in the Ethereum market, as taker sellers are beginning to dominate the buyers on exchanges. According to data from CryptoQuant, the ETH Taker Sell Volume on all centralized exchanges surged to around $321.3 million within a minute on Friday.

Source: @JA_Maartun on X

Typically, significant spikes in the Taker Sell Volume have often been followed by a period of downward pressure on the price of Ethereum. If history is anything to go by, investors might expect the second-largest cryptocurrency to struggle over the next few days.

Ethereum Price Overview

As of this writing, the price of ETH sits just above the $2,410 level, reflecting an almost 5% decline in the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the altcoin is down by nearly 6% over the last seven days.

The Ethereum price has been stuck in consolidation within the $2,500 – $2,800 range over the past few weeks. With the token’s price now beneath a major support in $2,500 and the rising bearish pressure, the odds of ETH embarking on a sustained rally look slimmer.

The price of ETH on the daily timeframe | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView

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Per the newspaper Chungnyun Ilbo, experts say that US dollar-based stablecoins could have an impact on exchange rates and fiat currencies.

Stablecoin Danger for South Korean Economy?

The comments came at a digital assets-themed meeting of the Korea Economic Association at the FKI Tower Conference Center in Yeouido, Seoul, on May 19.

An expert panel expressed concerns about the possible proliferation of dollar-based stablecoins in South Korea.

The panel argued that stablecoin usage would reduce the volume of won-based payments made by both individuals and corporations in South Korea.

It also claimed that the central Bank of Korea (BOK) could suffer as a result. The BOK, experts said, could lose the ability to manage money supplies or intervene in the foreign exchange markets.

The BOK has made similar statements in recent days, in response to stablecoin-related manifesto pledges from the leading presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung.

KRW Stablecoin on Political Agenda

Lee Jae-myung has pledged to launch a KRW-pegged stablecoin if he is elected President on June 3. Members of his party, the Democratic Party, have also argued that financial regulators – and not the BOK – should have the final say on stablecoin issuance.

But others want to use existing stablecoins in their adoption drives. They claim that failing to adopt is hampering Seoul’s tech competitiveness.

These advocates favor allowing South Korean firms and payments companies to work with high-cap stablecoins like USDT and USDC.

However, Lee Seung-seok, a senior researcher at the Korea Economic Research Institute, warned:

“If dollar-based stablecoins become established as a means of payment in South Korea, this could bring about structural changes in the won/dollar exchange rate determination mechanism. Exchange rates could soar due to a drop in KRW demand and an increase in demand for foreign currency.”

The researcher added that dollar-based stablecoins allow for rapid capital mobility. He added that their decentralized nature “could result in large-scale capital outflows in the event of a crisis.”

Kim Hyo-bong, a former Financial Supervisory Service official, said that Washington and Brussels were both likely to launch stablecoin legislation in 2025. Kim said:

“South Korea should also make sure it acts in line with global trends.”

Kang Tae-soo, a visiting professor at the KAIST Graduate School of Finance and a BOK Monetary Policy Committee member, said that stablecoins offer firms advantages in the payment and settlement spaces.

But Kang concurred that stablecoins were difficult to control. He said they could sow uncertainty in the monetary and foreign exchange policy sectors.

The academic argued that the BOK and the government needed to ensure adoption drives “minimize side effects and maximize advantages.”

However, others warned against the dangers of over-regulation. Namgung Joo-hyun, an Associate Professor of Commercial Law at Sungkyunkwan University, said that the “global digital asset paradigm is rapidly changing.” He said:

“We must take steps to ensure South Korea does not end up isolated due to excessive regulations. We need to establish a financial framework that provides both international consistency and industrial competitiveness.”

A War of Words

Meanwhile, the presidential candidates’ stablecoin war of words continues. During the first televised debate between the four leading candidates for the June 3 poll, Lee Jae-myung reiterated his commitment to launching a KRW-pegged coin.

But EToday reported that Lee Jun-seok, of the rival Reform Party, challenged the frontrunner on the matter.

Lee Jae-myung refuted Lee Jun-seok’s challenge, claiming that “stablecoins based on fiat won collateral are stable.”

However, Lee Jun-seok claimed that there were “no use cases” for any sort of stablecoins that use a peg other than the USD.

He continued, explaining that USDC and USDT, combined, “account for 90% of the stablecoin market.” Lee Jun-seok asked the frontrunner what measures he would take “to prevent the illegal circulation of stablecoin funds, such as remittances to North Korea.”

The post South Korean Experts Warn Seoul of Mounting ‘Stablecoin Danger’ appeared first on Cryptonews.