I have accounts on bithumb and upbit. I wouldn't trust the volume (until taxes are implemented next year). For example, USDC is currently worth 2.6% more BTC on Korean exchanges than say binance or coinbase, so they are playing catch between the large Korean exchanges and trading massive amounts for pennies. With something larger like BTC it's nothing to worry about, but with Steem it's obviously a circle jerk hoping for a sucker to bit.
I warn my friends to be careful touching anything outside of the global top 50 rank, especially if the volume or value is very high on the Korean exchanges compared to others. Steem is a big no for both.
Yeah, it is mostly just wash I suspect. Funny, because once upon a time Steem had one of the lowest amounts of Wash in the industry.
I am glad that Hive has a USDT and BUSD pairing on Binance.