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South Korea crypto volumes plunge as retail shifts to equities

Average daily won-based crypto volume across five major exchanges fell about 89% year over year to $305 million in July 2026.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Market Structure

Trading activity on South Korea’s five largest won-based crypto exchanges fell sharply over the past year as the KOSPI surged, suggesting retail speculative attention is shifting toward equities, Cointelegraph analysis shows.

Cointelegraph compared CoinGecko 24-hour volume data for Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax across seven-day periods in July 2025 and July 2026. Using each exchange equally, it calculated an average decline of about 77%, while combined average daily volume fell about 89%, to $305 million from $2.82 billion.

ZDNet Korea separately reported that daily volume across the five exchanges was down 88% year on year on Monday, adding that weaker fee income has pushed some platforms to sell crypto holdings, including Korbit.

Korbit raised about 1.6 billion won, or roughly $1 million, by selling 15 Bitcoin and 60 Ether, while the KOSPI rose 114.4% over the 12 months to July 22, according to Yahoo Finance data. Cointelegraph said a sustained preference for equities could weaken crypto liquidity and pressure smaller platforms.

Latest closeBitcoin $81,906.63 ▼1.4%|Kospi 6,803.90 ▼2.0%

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