South Korea's Crypto Market Trails in Regulatory Accessibility

The South Korean virtual asset market is a global powerhouse in terms of trading volume, ranking second only to the United States. However, when it comes to regulatory accessibility and cross-border openness, South Korea lags behind, placing 12th out of 15 countries surveyed by The Block's Global Crypto Competitiveness Index (GCCI).

The GCCI assesses four components: market conditions, industry, regulatory accessibility, and cross-border openness. In terms of observed trading volume for Q1 2026, South Korea ranked second with $66.6 billion, while its regulatory accessibility scored a paltry 2.08 points, placing it 13th.

The Block's CEO Steve Jeong warned that South Korea 'urgently needs to advance its virtual asset regulation' or risk falling behind other countries that are accelerating their regulatory frameworks. The main constraints on South Korea's virtual asset market were identified as institutional market access conditions, including corporate account opening, custody, and bank onboarding.

The KBW panel discussion featured major South Korean crypto exchanges calling for a unified call for regulatory overhaul and institutional support. They emphasized the need to consolidate trading markets and create a unified digital asset market exchange where virtual assets, security token offerings (STOs), real-world asset tokenization (RWA), and stablecoins could be traded on a single platform.