South Korea crypto volumes shrink as retail investors shift to stocks
South Korea‘s major crypto exchanges have seen their trading activity fall sharply over the past year as the country’s stock market surged, suggesting retail speculative interest may be shifting toward equities, Cointelegraph analysis shows. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) benchmark more than doubled over the period, while volumes across the countrys largest won-based crypto platforms contracted. Cointelegraph reviewed CoinGeckos historical 24-hour volume readings for Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax, comparing seven-day periods in July 2025 and July 2026. After calculating the average daily volume and year-over-year percentage change, Cointelegraph took the simple, unweighted average of the five declines, producing an average drop of about 77%. This gives each exchange equal weight regardless of trading volume. However, on a combined basis, average daily volume fell about 89%, to $305 million from $2.82 billion in the comparable July 2025 period. ZDNet Korea separately reported that daily volume across the five exchanges was down 88% year-on-year on Monday. It said weaker fee income had pushed some platforms to sell crypto holdings, including Korbit, which raised about 1.6 billion won (about $1 million) by selling 15 Bitcoin (BTC) and 60 Ether (ETH). South Korea is one of cryptos most active retail markets, with exchanges relying heavily