South Korea's Crypto Exchanges See High Registration, Low Trading Activity Among Foreign Users

South Korea's major cryptocurrency exchanges have seen a significant number of foreign and corporate account registrations, but the trading activity among these accounts is remarkably low. According to a report from the Seoul Economic Daily, as of the end of last month, there were over 566,000 foreign accounts and nearly 6,600 corporate accounts registered across five major virtual asset exchanges.

The exchanges in question include industry leaders such as Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax. Despite these high registration numbers, the report highlights a significant gap between registration and actual engagement. Among general corporate accounts, only 29 were active in the past month, meaning they were used at least once for trading, swaps, staking, or virtual asset deposits and withdrawals.

The low activity rate among foreign accounts is also notable, with the exact number of active foreign accounts not disclosed but implied to be minimal. This pattern may reflect regulatory uncertainties, complex verification processes, or a lack of compelling use cases for international traders in the Korean market.