$24B in Crypto Holdings Vanish in 6 Months in Korea — What’s Going On?
The Bank of Korea (BOK) reports that South Korean traders’ complete crypto holdings have fallen by 27% in simply six months.
Trading quantity and deposits additionally shrank throughout the identical interval, confirming a major slowdown in the home market. South Korea is classed as a market with a really high capability for spot cryptocurrency purchases on a worldwide scale.
Steep Drop in Trading Volume
The central financial institution additionally noted that the value volatility of main crypto property, together with Bitcoin, has not too long ago decreased.
In its Financial Stability Report revealed on Friday, the BOK acknowledged, “regardless of the latest rise in Bitcoin’s worth, the full worth of home traders’ digital asset holdings has considerably decreased from its peak originally of the 12 months.”
According to the report, holdings dropped from a high of ₩121.8 trillion ($89.2 billion) in January 2025 to ₩89.2 trillion ($65.4 billion) in June. Deposits additionally noticed a pointy decline of about 42%, from ₩10.7 trillion to ₩6.2 trillion.
Global Stablecoin Cap Rises, So Why Is It Falling in Korea?
The common every day buying and selling quantity in June was simply ₩3.2 trillion, a steep drop from ₩17.1 trillion in December 2024—a lower of almost 80%.
The BOK attributes the home crypto slowdown to a booming native inventory market. As Bitcoin’s worth hit a brand new all-time high, South Korean inventory costs additionally surged, inflicting capital to circulate away from crypto and into the native equities market.
This development is a troubling signal, particularly in South Korea, a rustic with a high price of spot crypto holdings and purchases globally.
In addition, stablecoin buying and selling quantity, which had been constantly outpacing Bitcoin’s for the previous 12 months, has proven a noticeable development slowdown since March. This development stands in stark distinction to the worldwide market.
The BOK report explains that whereas the full international crypto market cap has continued to develop, the value volatility of main crypto property has decreased. The BOK’s evaluation means that enacting the US stablecoin legislation, the GENIUS Act, has led to a major enhance in the worldwide stablecoin market cap, contributing to this development.
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