{"id":106323,"date":"2026-08-01T14:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/106323\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T14:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:27:11","slug":"south-koreas-22-crypto-tax-crashes-trading-volume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/106323\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s 22% Crypto Tax Crashes Trading Volume"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/a> Photo by BeInCrypto <\/p>\n

South Korea confirmed a 22% crypto tax starting in 2027, just as trading volume across its five main exchanges collapsed nearly 55% during the first half of the year. <\/p>\n

The timing raises an uncomfortable question about taxing a market that is already shrinking fast. <\/p>\n

How the 22% Crypto Tax Will Work <\/p>\n

Other income is a tax category covering gains that fall outside wages or business revenue. Under the Income Tax Act, profits from transferring or lending virtual assets will sit in that bracket. <\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol confirmed the schedule on July 29 during a National Assembly committee meeting, saying the government is pushing forward as planned. <\/p>\n

The mechanics are straightforward. Annual gains above 2.5 million won, roughly $1,740, face a 20% national tax, while a local levy raises the combined rate to 22%. <\/p>\n

Follow us on X\u00a0to get the latest news as it happens. <\/p>\n

Investors below that threshold owe nothing. First returns are expected in May 2028, covering income earned throughout 2027. The measure has a long history of delays. Lawmakers approved it in 2020 for a January 2022 start, postponed it to 2025, then pushed it to 2027. <\/p>\n

Opposition remains active. People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon criticized the design because investors cannot offset losses against gains earned in later years. <\/p>\n

That restriction could push traders offshore. Kim warned activity might migrate toward overseas exchanges, decentralized platforms, or peer-to-peer markets, reducing both volume and tax visibility at home. <\/p>\n

Koo acknowledged the concern but resisted changes. Moving crypto into a capital-gains framework would require a review of the broader tax treatment of financial markets, he argued. <\/p>\n

Why Is South Korean Trading Volume Collapsing <\/p>\n

A separate opposition bill filed in March seeks to remove crypto income from the Income Tax Act entirely. Lawmakers referred it to a subcommittee, keeping repeal or another delay legally possible. <\/p>\n

The volume figures explain the anxiety. Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax generated roughly $366.58 billion in combined trading volume during the first six months. <\/p>\n

That marked a 54.6% drop from the same period in 2025. The contraction continued through July, with cumulative volume falling by 16.9% compared with June. <\/p>\n

Concentration is reshaping the market. Upbit processed about 11.69 trillion won in July, and while its volume fell 10%, its market share climbed from 62.3% to 67.4%. <\/p>\n

Bithumb moved in the opposite direction. Its share slipped from 30.7% to 27.1%, widening the gap with Upbit to 40.3 percentage points. <\/p>\n

Subscribe to our YouTube\u00a0channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights. <\/p>\n

\"Top<\/a> Top 5 Crypto Exchanges in South Korea by Trading Volume – 24 Hours. Source: CoinGecko <\/p>\n

These figures may be attributable to the shift in liquidity concentration toward larger platforms during periods of slowdown. <\/p>\n

Deeper order books absorb bigger trades with less slippage, reinforcing dominance when overall activity falls. <\/p>\n

Smaller exchanges face real pressure. Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax are reportedly exploring partnerships with securities firms, institutional services, and restructuring. <\/p>\n

Future competition may hinge less on raw volume. Stablecoin liquidity, regulatory compliance, and institutional access could matter more than retail spot trading alone. <\/p>\n

Read the Original story South Korea’s 22% Crypto Tax Crashes Trading Volume<\/a> by Luis Blanco at beincrypto.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by BeInCrypto South Korea confirmed a 22% crypto tax starting in 2027, just as trading volume across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[15396,31,33,23715],"class_list":["post-106323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-koo-yun-cheol","tag-korea","tag-south-korea","tag-trading-volume"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}