South Korea’s crypto trading activity dropped sharply in the week ending Oct. 2, as combined volume across the country’s five largest exchanges fell to roughly 20.5 trillion won ($15.1 billion), a 19.56% decline from the previous week, according to data cited by Crypto.news from Digital Asset. The drop removed about 5 trillion won ($3.7 billion) from activity over the seven-day window.
Market-share data showed Upbit remained the leader with 64.04% of five-exchange volume, down 3.3 percentage points, while Bithumb rose 1.893 points to 26.66%. Coinone took third at 6.58%, Digital X reached 2.71%, and Gopax remained at 0.02%. Digital X, formerly Korbit, began operating under its new brand on Sept. 16 following its move under Mirae Asset.
Regulatory data underline a weaker longer-term trend. The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit’s first-half 2026 survey of 26 registered virtual asset service providers found average daily exchange volume fell 44%, exchange sales dropped 41%, and operating profit dropped 78%. Market capitalization fell 33%, a loss of 28.3 trillion won, and won-denominated exchange deposits dropped 35%. The KoFIU also flagged liquidity risks in exchange-exclusive tokens, noting monthly turnover for won-based exchanges ranged between 100% and 201%, compared with only 2% to 9% for coin-only platforms.
India is seeing a parallel shift. The Chainalysis 2026 Geography of Crypto Report found India-based users generated $88.4 billion in centralized exchange inflows between July 2025 and June 2026, outpacing Singapore and Australia in Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania. Yet domestic compliant Indian exchanges saw their share of local volume fall from around 7% to just 0.7%, with the strict 1% tax deducted at source driving traders toward global platforms. Indian FIU mandates on offshore entities are now trying to close those tax loopholes and push volumes back to domestic venues.
What to watch: Bithumb added Talus against the Korean won on Oct. 2, and Upbit listed Dolphin across KRW, BTC and USDT pairs. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is also preparing expanded travel-rule requirements for registered virtual asset service providers.
