South Korea's won hits 30% of global crypto trading, banks move in

The Korean won accounts for roughly 30% of global crypto spot trading, second only to the US dollar, out of a country of 52 million people. For years that volume looked purely retail. From 2017, South Korean corporations weren't legally permitted to hold or trade digital assets at all, and the Financial Services Commission only lifted that nine-year ban this year, Circle detailed in an analysis of the market.

In July, Circle hosted Current Seoul, a closed-door session at the Josun Palace for senior leaders from Korea's banks, exchanges, payment companies, and super-apps. Sean Kim, Head of Sales and Trading at Presto, told the room that Korean trading functions like a second job, the kind people take on to build their own house. Kim added that regulation isn't finalized yet, but big Korean players already invest heavily in crypto exchanges, merging two financial worlds that used to sit apart.

That merger shows up in ownership stakes, not only trading volume. Hana Financial agreed to buy 6.55% of Dunamu, which operates Upbit, Korea's largest exchange. Samsung took its own stake weeks later. The Hana deal came with a joint development program covering won-pegged stablecoins, blockchain remittances, and tokenized securities, signed before Korea finalized its Digital Asset Basic Act, the legislation Intokened tracked as the country accelerated its blockchain push.

Interoperability turned into the next fight. Kakao Pay CEO Allen Shin told the same room that liquidity between currencies remains unsolved, and Korea now has at least four separate groups building competing won-pegged stablecoins. None holds a clear technical edge over the others, so adoption, not engineering, will decide which standard survives. The Financial Services Commission is also debating whether dollar stablecoins can sit on Korean corporate balance sheets, while the Bank of Korea warns the practice risks pushing capital out of the country.

• Eight-bank coalition
• Kakao's alliance with partner banks
• Naver-Dunamu-Hana bloc
• BDACS, issuer of the KRW1 token

Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act is due for completion by the end of the year, a timeline that overlaps with deadlines elsewhere. The EU's MiCA authorization deadline passed on July 1, splitting Europe's stablecoin market into survivors and casualties. The US GENIUS Act takes full effect by January 2027, the UK opens its own regulatory gateway later this year, and Hong Kong granted its first stablecoin licenses in April. Circle itself has a memorandum of understanding with Kakao, one more sign that global stablecoin issuers are picking Korean partners ahead of the law rather than waiting for it.

For institutions still watching from outside, the lesson from Seoul isn't subtle. Hana and Samsung didn't wait for the Digital Asset Basic Act to pass before buying into Korea's largest exchange, and the won-stablecoin coalitions didn't wait for a single winning standard before building four competing versions. Waiting for full regulatory clarity used to be the safe move. In a market moving at Korea's pace, it's turning into the way institutions get left out.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.