South Korean cryptocurrency investors are moving their assets overseas amid tightening domestic regulation, delayed reforms and a booming global cryptocurrency market.
CryptoQuant data shows that in November 2024, the total monthly trading volume of stablecoins on South Korea's top five CEXs (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and GOPAX) was about 16.17 trillion won ($11.5 billion). The figure, which includes the total buying and selling of stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, has increased sevenfold from about 2 trillion won at the beginning of the year. This is also the first time that South Korea's monthly stablecoin trading volume has exceeded 10 trillion won.
Stablecoin trading volume has surged in recent months, doubling from 5.45 trillion won in September 2024 to 9.56 trillion won a month later. As of Monday, the 24-hour trading volume of South Korea's domestic virtual asset market was 23 trillion won, accounting for 9.05% of the global total of 262 trillion won. (Pulse)