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"Impact of booming domestic and international stock markets and falling virtual asset prices"
It was found that the amount of virtual assets held by domestic investors and their transaction volume decreased by half over the past year.
During this period, the amount of KRW deposits in virtual asset exchanges also decreased, but the amount of stablecoin holdings more than doubled, drawing attention.
According to data submitted by the Bank of Korea to Rep. Cha Kyu-geun of the Rebuilding Korea Party, a member of the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee, on the 5th, domestic virtual asset holdings as of the end of February this year were tallied at 60.6 trillion won.
This is the sum of the market prices of virtual assets held by investors with accounts at Korea's top five virtual asset exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone, and Gopax) at the end of each month.
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Monthly Trends in Virtual Asset Holdings, Daily Average Transaction Volume, and Deposits (Unit: Trillion Won) │
│ ※ Bank of Korea data, provided by Rep. Cha Kyu-geun's office. │
├─────────┬─────────┬────────┬────────┤
│ Period │ Holdings │ Transaction Volume │ Deposits │
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of July 2024 │ 58.6│ 2.9│ 4.9│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of August │ 50.6│ 2.7│ 4.5│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of September │ 54.8│ 2.8│ 4.4│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of October │ 58.0│ 3.4│ 4.7│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of November │ 102.6│ 14.9│ 8.8│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of December │ 104.2│ 17.1│ 10.7│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of January 2025 │ 121.8│ 11.8│ 10.6│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of February │ 86.2│ 7.6│ 8.6│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of March │ 84.1│ 5.6│ 7.4│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of April │ 88.3│ 5.3│ 6.9│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of May │ 93.0│ 5.0│ 7.0│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of June │ 89.2│ 3.2│ 6.2│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of July │ 112.5│ 7.2│ 8.8│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of August │ 108.6│ 6.2│ 10.4│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of September │ 112.6│ 5.9│ 10.3│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of October │ 109.5│ 5.7│ 10.1│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of November │ 92.9│ 4.9│ 9.5│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of December │ 81.7│ 2.7│ 8.1│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of January 2026 │ 75.3│ 3.6│ 7.8│
├─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┤
│End of February │ 60.6│ 4.5│ 7.8│
└─────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┘
Virtual asset holdings steadily increased from 50.6 trillion won at the end of August 2024, peaking at 121.8 trillion won in January last year, and then decreased by more than half by the end of February this year.
The daily average virtual asset transaction volume also increased from 2.7 trillion won at the end of August 2024 to 17.1 trillion won at the end of December of the same year. However, it only reached 4.5 trillion won by the end of February this year.
KRW deposits, considered as waiting funds for investment in virtual asset exchanges, were around 10.7 trillion won at the end of December 2024 but decreased to 7.8 trillion won as of the end of February this year.
In contrast, stablecoin holdings gradually increased from 88.5 billion won at the end of July 2024, peaking at 872.3 billion won at the end of December last year. As of the end of February this year, they maintained a relatively large scale of 607.1 billion won.
Analysis suggests that the decrease in domestic virtual asset holdings and transaction volume is due to the booming domestic and international stock markets, the bearish virtual asset market, and a general decline in valuation.
Furthermore, the increase in stablecoin holdings is attributed to the expanded demand for dollar-based investment assets due to high exchange rates and increased interest in stablecoins.
Hong Sung-wook, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, explained, "The decrease in domestic virtual asset holdings was largely influenced by the movement of investment funds due to the booming domestic stock market and the decline in virtual asset prices."
Kim Min-seung, head of Korbit Research Center, said, "Fluctuations in the won-dollar exchange rate seem to have affected investment demand (for stablecoins)," adding, "Since most coins also showed weakness on overseas exchanges, it can also be seen that investment funds that went overseas have returned to Korea."
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Monthly Domestic Stablecoin Holdings (Unit: 100 Million Won) │
│ ※ Bank of Korea data, provided by Rep. Cha Kyu-geun's office. │
├──────────────────┬──────────────────┤
│ Period │ Holdings │
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of July 2024 │ 885│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of August │ 1,134│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of September │ 1,687│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of October │ 752│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of November │ 2,994│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of December │ 4,036│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of January │ 2,782│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of February │ 4,602│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of March │ 4,856│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of April │ 4,625│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of May │ 3,288│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of June │ 5,798│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of July │ 5,355│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of August │ 5,678│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of September │ 5,413│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of October │ 5,785│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of November │ 7,265│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of December │ 8,723│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of January 2026 │ 5,310│
├──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│End of February │ 6,071│
└──────────────────┴──────────────────┘
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