South Korean Crypto Trading Volume Drops 14% in H2 2025
South Korea’s crypto trading volume cooled sharply in H2 2025, falling 14% to 1,001 trillion won (about $735B), according to a Financial Services Commission (FSC) survey released March 25, 2026. This follows 1,160 trillion won in H1 2025.
The crypto trading volume decline also showed up in liquidity activity: the daily average trading value fell 15% from 6.4 trillion won to 5.4 trillion won, suggesting a broad, sustained slowdown rather than a short-term blip.
Exchange profitability deteriorated faster than volumes. Total operating profit for virtual asset exchanges dropped 38% to 380.7 billion won in H2 2025 (from 617.8 billion won in H1). The FSC data shows a split by exchange type: won-market exchanges stayed profitable (395.8 billion won), while coin-market-only exchanges posted a loss of 15.1 billion won.
The contraction is attributed to tighter regulation after South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act fully took effect in July 2024, alongside 2025 macro headwinds from higher global interest rates and a market maturation away from retail-driven hype.
Policymakers are now debating additional rules for security tokens and DeFi, and market watchers will monitor 2026 signals such as the performance gap between won-market and international platforms, renewed retail demand, and whether South Korea approves spot Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) ETFs.
For traders, the key read-through is clear: South Korean crypto trading volume is contracting, and margin pressure is hitting crypto-only venues more than won-pair platforms.
Bearish
The reported 14% drop in South Korea’s crypto trading volume in H2 2025, alongside a 38% collapse in exchange operating profit, points to weaker demand and tighter margins—conditions that typically pressure risk appetite in the region. Importantly, the divergence by venue type (won-market exchanges still profitable, coin-only exchanges in loss) suggests market participants are consolidating around fiat on-ramps and the most liquid access points.
This resembles earlier post-regulatory “de-risking” cycles seen in other jurisdictions: when compliance costs rise and speculation slows, activity and fee-driven profitability often fall first, then market structure changes (liquidity migration, product mix shifts). Here, won-pair platforms may hold up better while crypto-only venues face continued competitive pressure.
In the short term, traders may see lower throughput, wider focus on liquidity/fees, and faster rotation toward the strongest exchanges. In the long term, if regulators use this normalization window to craft clearer rules for security tokens and DeFi, the market could stabilize—yet the near-term data still leans bearish because both trading intensity and exchange earnings are declining simultaneously.