In the first half of this year, the size of Korea's virtual asset market narrowed compared with the end of last year. Domestic virtual asset transaction volume fell 14% from the end of the previous year, and won-denominated deposits decreased 42%.
The Financial Services Commission announced on the 30th the findings of the "Results of the second-half 2024 survey of virtual asset service providers." The survey covered 25 domestic virtual asset service providers and was conducted from January to June this year.
According to the survey, the domestic virtual asset market capitalization stood at 95.1 trillion won as of the end of June, down 14% from the end of the previous year. During the period, virtual asset transaction volume fell 14%, from 1,345 trillion won to 1,160 trillion won. Won-denominated deposits came to 6.2 trillion won, down 4.5 trillion won from the end of the previous year. The average daily transaction amount also fell 12% to 6.4 trillion won. The number of users eligible to transact virtual assets was 10.77 million, up 1.07 million (11%) from the end of the previous year.
As virtual asset transactions decreased, the revenue of domestic virtual asset businesses also declined. In the first half, virtual asset businesses posted sales of 1.1487 trillion won, down 67.3 billion won (6%) from the second half of last year. Operating profit during the period fell 17% to 618.5 billion won.
The total number of virtual assets traded domestically was 1,538, up 13% from the end of the previous year. Domestic investors were found to prefer virtual assets with high global market caps. Among the top 10 domestic virtual assets by market cap, those included in the global top 10 are ▲ Bitcoin (BTC) ▲ Ethereum (ETH) ▲ XRP (XRP) ▲ Solana (SOL) ▲ Dogecoin (DOGE) ▲ ADA (ADA). The Financial Services Commission explained that the preference for globally leading assets continues, noting that the market capitalization share of the global top 10 virtual assets, including these six, reaches 78%.
During the survey period, the price fluctuation range of virtual assets was 72%, remaining at a high level. Over the same period, the KOSPI showed volatility of 18.5% and the KOSDAQ 27.4%.
An official at the Financial Services Commission said, "With global tariff disputes and rising geopolitical tensions, the market's uptrend slowed and volatility expanded compared with the previous year," adding, "As overseas institutional investment increases, Bitcoin prices have risen, while individual investor sentiment has weakened, leading to overall mixed movements in other virtual asset prices."