Market cap of virtual assets in Korea crashes 33% in first half of year

The value of Korea’s virtual asset market sank 33 percent in the first half of the year, largely on falling prices of key cryptocurrencies, data showed on Thursday.

The market capitalization of the virtual asset market came to 58.9 trillion won ($43.4 billion) as of the end of June, sharply down from 87.2 trillion won six months earlier, the Financial Services Commission said.

The daily average turnover of virtual assets also plummeted to 3.1 trillion won from 5.4 trillion won over the cited period.

The total value of won deposits made by traders fell 2.9 trillion won, or 35 percent, to 5.2 trillion won from January through June.

There were 26 virtual asset market operators in Korea, including 17 crypto exchanges, as of the end of June, the financial regulator said.

The number of market users gained 0.4 percent to some 11.17 million over the cited period.

The data also showed 1,703 types of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin, were traded in the Korean market as of December, down 29 from six months earlier.

Yonhap