South Korean Crypto Market Surpasses Stock Market in Trading Volume

On December 2, the daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies among retail traders in South Korea reached $18 billion, surpassing the stock market’s equivalent figure of $14 billion by 22%. This was reported in a 10x Research report.

The most popular cryptocurrency of the day was Ripple’s XRP, with a trading volume of $6.3 billion. Dogecoin followed with $1.6 billion, and Stellar was third with $1.3 billion.

According to Marcus Thielen, the founder of the research firm, this trend is driven by the enthusiasm of retail crypto traders amid a market upswing.

He noted that the correlation between Bitcoin’s funding rate at 15% and cryptocurrency trading volumes in South Korea has significantly decreased, indicating a forthcoming increase in altcoin market activity:

“The action is clearly happening in the altcoin market, and everyone needs a strategy to catch this wave while staying disciplined.”

According to research by Tiger Research, about 15% of South Korea’s population (7.78 million) trade digital assets. In the first quarter of 2024, cryptocurrency transactions involving the Korean won exceeded those with the dollar. In the second and third quarters, it ranked second, maintaining an edge over the euro and yen.

Analysts found that about 70% of all transactions took place on the country’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit. The most popular trading instrument during the first three quarters was Bitcoin, but by the end of the year, XRP and DOGE had surpassed digital gold.

As of March 2024, local users were paying up to 10.32% more for cryptocurrency purchases. This discrepancy between local and international prices in the South Korean market is known as the “kimchi premium.”

According to the Crypto Adoption Index by Chainalysis, South Korea ranks 33rd globally in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. Canada is 32nd, and China is 34th.

Back in November, South Korean authorities discovered that the Upbit exchange had committed up to 600,000 violations of KYC requirements.