South Korea Crypto Volumes Soar 82% Amid Stock Market Sell-Off

The South Korean cryptocurrency market experienced a surge in trading volume on July 28th, reaching $964 million across five major exchanges. This marked an 82% increase over the previous month's daily average.

The trading volume spike was largely driven by Upbit and Bithumb, with KRW-USDT trading volume increasing by 600% to nearly $140 million on Upbit, and 438% to $436 million on Bithumb. However, the total volume on both exchanges later fell to $144 million.

The surge in crypto trading volume coincided with a historic sell-off in South Korea's stock market, with the KOSPI benchmark index plummeting over 20% in five days. This sell-off was largely due to a semiconductor downturn and triggered circuit breakers during the decline.

While it is unclear whether investors directly rotated capital from stocks into crypto, some analysts suggested that traders may have moved funds overseas to trade Korean equity derivatives or sold assets to meet margin obligations elsewhere.