Operating profit of South Korean crypto exchanges decreased by 78% in the first half of 2026 amid declining trading volumes, market capitalization, and client deposits. According to the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), the average daily trading volume on domestic virtual asset exchanges fell by 44% compared to the previous six months, while market capitalization decreased by 33%, and deposits in won dropped by 35%. Exchange sales fell by 41% during the same period, despite a slight increase in the number of accounts eligible for trading by 0.4%. The KoFIU survey covered 26 registered virtual asset providers, including 17 exchange operators and nine custodial service and wallet providers, and addressed activity from January 1 to June 30.
These data indicate that retail investors in South Korea are shifting their focus from cryptocurrencies to the country's stock market. In May, the value of crypto assets held by South Korean investors fell by 50.2% to 60.6 trillion won ($41.4 billion) over approximately a year. Experts link this decline to a capital shift towards stocks.
A Cointelegraph analysis in July also showed that the overall average daily trading volume on platforms such as Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax fell by about 89% year-on-year for comparable seven-day periods, while the KOSPI index, the benchmark for the South Korean stock market, more than doubled over the 12 months leading up to July 22.
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