South Korean crypto exchanges' first-half operating profit falls 78% to 81.6 billion won

South Korea's 17 crypto exchanges earned a combined operating profit of 81.6 billion won in the first half of 2026, less than a quarter of the 374.8 billion won they made in the second half of 2025. The figures come from a survey of virtual asset service providers for the first half of 2026, released Oct. 1 by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). It covered 26 of the 28 businesses registered as of the end of June that submitted data — 17 exchanges and nine wallet and custody providers.

The value of crypto held domestically — the amount of each coin held at exchanges multiplied by its market price — stood at 58.9 trillion won at the end of June, down 28.3 trillion won from 87.2 trillion won at the end of 2025. Total trading volume for the half was 555 trillion won, just over half of the 1,001 trillion won recorded in the second half of 2025. Korean won deposited at exchanges for trading also fell, to 5.2 trillion won from 8.1 trillion won. The report noted that bitcoin fell 33% over the same period, from $87,509 at the end of 2025 to $58,559 at the end of June.

Same fees, less trading

Exchange revenue fell 41% to 576.8 billion won from 973.6 billion won in the second half of 2025. The average trading fee was 0.15%, unchanged from six months earlier. At exchanges running Korean won markets, where coins are bought and sold for won, trading fees made up 99.7% of revenue. Those exchanges posted operating profit of 101.8 billion won, down 74% from 395.8 billion won, while coin-market exchanges, which only offer crypto-to-crypto trading, posted a combined operating loss of 20.2 billion won. Regulators said some businesses submitted preliminary figures, so the numbers may change once their books are closed.

Average daily trading on coin markets was 380 million won, down 55% from 830 million won six months earlier. Monthly turnover — trading value divided by assets users entrusted to exchanges, a measure introduced in this survey — ranged from 100% to 201% on won markets and 2% to 9% on coin markets, compared with 25% for the KOSPI over the same period. Exchanges employed 2,021 people, down 10, while anti-money laundering (AML) staff rose by one to 213. Assets under custody at the nine wallet and custody providers fell 25% to 230.4 billion won, and their operating loss doubled to 18.6 billion won from 9.3 billion won.

People in their 40s overtake those in their 30s

Accounts ready to trade rose by 49,000, or 0.4%, from the end of 2025 to 11.175 million. By age, users in their 40s made up 26.9%, edging past those in their 30s at 26.7%. In the survey for the second half of 2025, people in their 30s were the largest group at 26.8%. They were followed by people in their 50s at 20%, those in their 20s and younger at 17%, and those 60 and older at 9%.

Balances shrank. Some 8.63 million accounts, or 77.2%, held less than 1 million won. Accounts holding 10 million won or more numbered 890,000, with their share falling 2 percentage points to 8%, while 110,000 accounts, or 1%, held 100 million won or more. Accounts with 1 billion won or more fell to 3,275 from 6,860 in the second half of 2025, less than half the earlier number.

135 new listings, 108 delistings

Exchanges made 135 new listings in the first half, counting the same coin on multiple exchanges separately, down 46% from 250 in the second half of 2025. Trading suspensions, or delistings, rose 64% to 108 from 66, and designations as investment caution assets rose 46% to 139 from 95. Of the 76 unique coins whose trading was halted, 68, or 89%, were traded on only one domestic exchange. The most common reasons were project risks such as doubts about a project's viability, cited for 29 coins, and market risks such as thin liquidity or sharp price drops, cited for 22.

The number of unique coins traded in South Korea fell by 39 in six months to 673. Coins listed on a single exchange fell to 234 from 296. Their combined value was 600 billion won, or 1% of the total, and 40% of them, or 93 coins, had valuations of 100 million won or less. The average maximum decline from first-half highs was 69%, and 77% for single-exchange coins. Regulators said investors should be careful about thin liquidity and sharp price swings in single-exchange coins. Six of the 10 coins with the highest valuations in South Korea — bitcoin, XRP, ether, solana, dogecoin and tether — are among the world's top 10 by market capitalization, and the global top 10 accounted for 82% of the value of crypto held domestically.

Crypto withdrawn from exchanges to external addresses totaled 62.8 trillion won in the first half, down 41%. Of that, 51.7 trillion won, or 83%, went to pre-registered (whitelisted) addresses at overseas exchanges or personal wallets. Bitcoin has rebounded since the survey's June 30 reference date. Around 12:30 p.m. KST on Oct. 1, bitcoin traded in the $83,000 range on Binance and at about 113.63 million won on Upbit's Korean won market. The kimchi premium on Upbit (the gap between prices on Korean exchanges and global markets) was about +0.38%, according to Coinyong price data.