Key TakeawaysBank of Korea data shows domestic virtual asset holdings fell over 50% to $41.17 billion by February 2026.Investors shifted capital to booming stock markets as bitcoin trading volumes crashed by 70% in early 2026.High exchange rates will likely drive further demand for dollar-pegged Stablecoins through late 2026. Massive Capital Migration to Stocks <\/p>\n
The value of virtual assets held by domestic investors in South Korea has plummeted by more than $41 billion (60 trillion won) over the last year, as a cooling crypto market prompted a mass migration of capital toward traditional equities. According to Bank of Korea<\/a> data reportedly submitted May 10 to Rep. Cha Kyu-keun of the Rebuilding Korea Party, the total valuation of domestic virtual assets<\/a> stood at approximately $41.17 billion as of the end of February.<\/p>\n The decline marks a staggering reversal from the market\u2019s peak in January 2024, when holdings reached $82.76 billion. In just over 12 months, the total value of these digital portfolios has been slashed by more than half. The retreat from the crypto sector is further evidenced by a sharp contraction in trading volume and liquidity.<\/p>\n According to a local report<\/a>, during the period under review, average daily trading volume, which surged to $11.62 billion in December 2024, fell to just $3.06 billion by February 2025. Won-denominated deposits\u2014often viewed as \u201cwaiting funds\u201d for future crypto purchases\u2014dropped from $7.27 billion in late 2024 to $5.30 billion in February.<\/p>\n Analysts attribute this exodus to a \u201cperfect storm\u201d of a bullish global stock market and a simultaneous downturn in major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. While the broader crypto market faced a sell-off, stablecoins<\/a> saw a significant rise in popularity.<\/p>\n Holdings of stablecoins<\/a> reached a high of $592.7 million in December 2024. Although that figure dipped to $412.5 million by February, the sector has still seen its value more than double compared to July 2024 levels, when holdings were a mere $60.1 million.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, financial experts quoted in the report suggest the surge in stablecoin<\/a> demand is driven by South Koreans seeking dollar-based assets to hedge against high exchange rates and market volatility<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe shift reflects an overall decline in valuation and a pivot toward more stable, interest-bearing domestic and international stock markets,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key TakeawaysBank of Korea data shows domestic virtual asset holdings fell over 50% to $41.17 billion by February…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[533,31,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-13075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-korea","8":"tag-cryptocurrency","9":"tag-korea","10":"tag-south-korea"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13075","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=13075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}