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South Korea's 20% weekly crypto slump puts trading back at its first-half pace
South Korea's five big crypto exchanges traded about 20.5 trillion won in the week to Oct. 2, down 19.56% from the week before. At about 2.9 trillion won a day, the week ran at the first-half average regulators reported on Oct. 1, so trading is back at the year's pace after one busier week.
The Investor · Invest desk
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What happened
- Upbit kept first place with 64.04% of trading across the five exchanges, down 3.3 percentage points from the prior week, by Digital Asset's count.
- Bithumb stayed second and gained 1.893 points to 26.66%, leaving Upbit and Bithumb with more than 90% of the five exchanges' trading.
- Korbit has traded as Digital X since Sept. 16, after becoming part of Mirae Asset Group in July, with customer assets and account history carried over.
- Korean regulators said on Oct. 1 that average daily exchange volume fell 2.3 trillion won, or 44%, in the first half of 2026 against the previous six months.
- The same review found accounts eligible to trade rose 0.4% while Korean-won deposits held on exchanges fell 2.9 trillion won, or 35%.
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Why it matters
- constraint A case that Korean crypto trading is still shrinking now needs weekly totals below about 20.5 trillion won, since this week only returned activity to the first-half daily pace.
- exposure Upbit's 64% share is most at risk in quiet weeks, because its volume falls faster than its rivals' when activity cools.
- cost Exchanges are competing for share of a pool that regulators say produced 41% less revenue in the first half, so gaining points in a falling week still leaves the gainer with less business.
Crypto trades seven days a week, so a weekly total converts cleanly into a daily rate: 20.5 trillion won over seven days is about 2.93 trillion won a day [1]. The regulators' first-half figure can be run backwards the same way. A fall of 2.3 trillion won that equals 44% implies daily volume of about 5.2 trillion won in the second half of 2025 and about 2.9 trillion in the first half of 2026 [2]. The latest week lands on that figure [3]. The week before, at roughly 25.5 trillion won, ran near 3.6 trillion a day [4].
The match is approximate, because the two series count different venues. Digital Asset's tally covers Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Digital X and Gopax [1], while the regulators surveyed 26 registered service providers, 17 of them exchange businesses [12].
The year's weakness is plain in the record. The five won-based exchanges traded about $366.58 billion in the first half, 54.6% less than a year earlier, according to an analysis crypto.news cited [10]. This week took volume back to that level after one busier week, and no lower. Crypto.news noted that the weekly figures do not tie the fall to any single coin, exchange event or regulatory action [8].
Upbit's share loss is clearer in won. At 67.34% of about 25.5 trillion won, it handled roughly 17.2 trillion won the week before. At 64.04% of 20.5 trillion, it handled about 13.1 trillion, a fall of about 4 trillion won, or 23.5% [5]. Upbit alone accounts for about four-fifths of the market's 5 trillion won decline [6]. Bithumb's volume fell about 13%, to roughly 5.5 trillion won [7], Coinone's about 3% [8] and Digital X's about 9% [9]. Each gained share while trading less, and their gains sum to 3.331 points against Upbit's rounded loss of 3.3 [10].
I think most of Upbit's lost share comes from how hard its volume moves with the market. In a Bitcoin rally that crypto.news cited, Upbit's 24-hour volume jumped 273% to about $1.84 billion while Bithumb's rose 132.9% to about $934.9 million [9], roughly twice the swing [11]. A venue whose volume rises twice as fast in a rally should lose volume faster in a lull. The other reading is that Bithumb is winning Upbit's customers for reasons a quiet week does not explain. That reading gains weight if Upbit's share stays near 64% the next time weekly volume climbs back toward 25 trillion won.
What to watch
- Digital X's share in its first months under Mirae Asset, starting from 2.71% this week, as a test of whether a group-backed rebrand moves volume.
- The regulators' second-half review, and whether won deposits on exchanges keep falling while the count of tradable accounts holds.