$110B in Crypto Flees South Korea in 2025 Amid Tight Rules

In 2025, South Koreans moved over $110 billion in crypto from local to foreign exchanges due to strict regulations, with domestic platforms limited to spot trading and unable to compete with offshore offerings.

In 2025, South Korean investors moved over 160 trillion won (approximately $110 billion) in cryptocurrency from domestic exchanges to foreign platforms, according to joint research by CoinGecko and Tiger Research. This significant outflow was driven by strict local regulations that limit domestic exchanges to spot trading, while foreign platforms offer more complex products such as derivatives and leverage. The delay in implementing the Digital Asset Basic Act and ongoing disagreements over stablecoin rules have left a regulatory gap, making it difficult for local exchanges to compete. Despite high crypto adoption and around 10 million investors in the country, growth at domestic exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb has stagnated as capital and trading activity increasingly shift abroad. From January to September 2025 alone, nearly KRW 124 trillion had already left the country, almost tripling from 2023 levels. Korean traders paid an estimated KRW 4.77 trillion ($3.36 billion) in fees to foreign exchanges, with the majority going to a single platform. The trend highlights the need for comprehensive regulatory reform to prevent further capital flight and maintain competitiveness in the domestic crypto market.