Korea Crypto Market Value Plummets by 33% in Six Months

Korea's cryptocurrency market value fell by about 33% in six months due to a decline in trading volume and asset prices. The total appraised value of cryptocurrencies dropped to 58.9 trillion won ($42 billion) at the end of June, down from 87.2 trillion won at the end of last year.

The average daily trading volume also decreased to 3.1 trillion won from 5.4 trillion won over the same period. This led to a significant decline in operating income at domestic virtual asset exchanges, which plummeted nearly 80% to 81.6 billion won.

The contraction in trading was attributed to Bitcoin's price decline of 33% to $58,559 at the end of June from $87,509 at the end of last year. Analysts pointed out that inflationary pressure from the war between the United States and Iran pushed back expectations for interest rate cuts and risk aversion spread.

The number of listed cryptocurrencies also decreased to 673 from 712 at the end of last year. Of the 234 cryptocurrencies listed on a single exchange, 40%, or 93, had an appraised value of 100 million won or less.