SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) — The value of South Korea’s virtual asset market dipped 14 percent from six months earlier in the first half, largely on falling prices of cryptocurrencies, data showed Tuesday.
The market capitalization of the virtual asset market came to 95.1 trillion won (US$67.8 billion) as of end-June, down 15.4 trillion won, or 14 percent, from six months ago, according to the data from the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
The total value of Korean won deposits made by traders also declined 4.5 trillion won, or 42 percent, to 6.2 trillion won, while the operating profit of market operators dipped 18 percent to 607 billion won over the cited period.
There were 25 virtual asset market operators in South Korea as of end-June, including 17 crypto exchanges, according to the financial regulator.
During the January-June period, the average value of daily crypto transactions reached 6.4 trillion won, down 12 percent from the daily average of 7.3 trillion won in the second half of 2024, according to the FSC.
The number of market users gained 11 percent to some 10.77 million over the cited period.
The data also showed 1,538 types of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin, were traded in the South Korean market as of June, up 181 from the end of last year.
The max draw down rate of cryptocurrencies, which shows the price volatility, stood at 72 percent as of end-June, up 4 percentage points from six months earlier, according to the data.
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