Liquidity in South Korea's crypto market declines, investors turn to stock markets

According to online data from AlliumLabs, the balance of stablecoin in associated wallets on South Korea's five major crypto exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX) has dropped significantly by about 55% from July 2025 to mid-March 2026, from US$575 million to approximately US$188 million.<br /> Capital outflows are highly correlated with the weakening of the Korean won. After the Korean won fell below the 1,500 mark against the US dollar, the selling accelerated significantly. Bradley Park, founder of DNTVResearch, analyzed that investors may sell dollar-linked stablecoins during periods of high exchange rates, exchange them for the Korean won, and then switch to domestic assets.<br /> At the same time, brokerage deposits fell to approximately 112 trillion won from approximately 131 trillion won in early March. Artemis data showed that overall stable coin trading volume in Asia increased over the same period, indicating that the withdrawal of funds is an independent phenomenon in the Korean market rather than a regional trend.