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Korea's virtual asset market cap dips 8 percent in second half of 2025

Published: 25 Mar. 2026, 15:10

A display board at the Upbit customer center in Seoul’s Gangnam district on March 14 shows prices of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. [YONHAP]

The value of Korea's virtual asset market dipped 8 percent in the second half of last year from six months earlier, largely on falling prices of key cryptocurrencies, data showed Wednesday.

The market capitalization of the virtual asset market came to 87.2 trillion won ($58.4 billion) as of the end of December, down 7.9 trillion won from six months ago, according to the data from the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

The total value of Korean won deposits made by traders rose 1.9 trillion won, or 31 percent, to 8.1 trillion won during the July-December period, while the operating profit of market operators dipped 38 percent to 381 billion won over the cited period.

There were 27 virtual asset market operators in Korea as of the end of 2025, including 18 crypto exchanges, according to the financial regulator.

During the July-December period, the average value of daily crypto transactions reached 5.4 trillion won, down 15 percent from the daily average of 6.4 trillion won in the first half of 2025, according to the FSC.

The number of market users gained 3 percent, to some 11.13 million, over the cited period.

The data also showed 1,732 types of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin, were traded in the Korean market as of December, up 194 from six months earlier.

The max drawdown rate of cryptocurrencies, which shows the price volatility, stood at 73 percent as of end-December, up 1 percentage point from six months earlier, according to the data.

Yonhap