TLDR Tech / Crypto
South Korea Crypto Liquidity Tumbles
Stablecoin balances across South Korea's five largest exchanges fell 55% from $575 million to roughly $188 million between July 2025 and mid-March 2026. The sharpest outflows followed the won's breach of the 1,500-per-dollar level in mid-March, a threshold last seen during the 2008 financial crisis, as traders liquidated dollar-denominated holdings to redeploy into domestic assets. South Korea's repatriation accounts, offering up to 100% capital gains tax exemptions on reinvested overseas assets, accelerated the rotation, with the KOSPI posting a 75% gain in 2025 and a further 37% year-to-date on semiconductor-led flows. The data ties Korean retail crypto participation to macro FX conditions and fiscal incentives rather than crypto-native sentiment, with brokerage deposits also declining from roughly 131 trillion won to 112 trillion won as capital moved into equities.
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