South Korea's Top 5 Crypto Experiences a 54.6% Year-over-Year Decline in Trading Volume in H1 2026

ChainCatcher report, according to NexBlock: South Korea’s virtual asset market trading volume continues to shrink, and the competitive landscape among the five major KRW exchanges is evolving. During this period of market downturn, capital is further concentrating on platforms with leading liquidity, while smaller exchanges are seeking breakthroughs through partnerships with securities firms, institutional market expansion, and operational restructuring. In the future, competition will no longer focus solely on trading volume, but rather on stablecoin liquidity, collaboration with traditional finance, expansion into institutional markets, and regulatory compliance capabilities. Data shows that from January to June this year, the cumulative trading volume of South Korea’s five major KRW exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax—amounted to approximately $366.58 billion, a 54.6% year-over-year decline. Between July 1 and July 27, the combined trading volume of the five exchanges reached approximately 17.34 trillion KRW, a 16.9% decrease compared to the same period last month. Among them, Upbit’s trading volume was approximately 11.69 trillion KRW; although down 10%, its market share rose from 62.3% to 67.4%. Bithumb’s trading volume fell to 4.71 trillion KRW, with its market share dropping from 30.7% to 27.1%, widening the gap between the two to 40.3 percentage points.