Data released by South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) on Wednesday revealed that the total value of the country's virtual asset market decreased by 8% in the second half of last year compared to the first half, primarily due to falling prices of major cryptocurrencies.

By the end of December, the total market capitalization of virtual assets in South Korea stood at 87.2 trillion won (approximately $584 billion), a reduction of 7.9 trillion won from the first half.

From July to December, the total amount of Korean won deposited by traders increased by 1.9 trillion won, a 31% rise, reaching 8.1 trillion won. In contrast, the operating profit of market operators during the same period fell by 38% to 381 billion won.

According to the South Korean financial regulator, as of the end of 2025, there were a total of 27 virtual asset market operators in the country, including 18 cryptocurrency exchanges.

FSC data indicated that the average daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies in South Korea from July to December was 5.4 trillion won, down 15% from the average daily trading volume of 6.4 trillion won in the first half of 2025.

Over the same period, the number of market users grew by 3%, reaching approximately 11.13 million.

Data showed that by December, the number of cryptocurrency types traded in the South Korean market reached 1,732, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin, an increase of 194 from the previous month.

As of the end of December, the maximum drawdown of cryptocurrencies, which reflects price volatility, was 73%, up 1 percentage point from six months earlier.