Korea’s Tight Rules Fuel $110B Crypto Exodus in 2025
$110 billion in crypto left South Korea in 2025 owing to strict trading rules
South Korean investors moved more than ₩160 trillion (about $110 billion) from domestic cryptocurrency exchanges to overseas platforms in 2025, according to a joint report by CoinGecko and Tiger Research.
The outflows highlight how trading activity continued even as South Korea tightened oversight of the sector. Rather than exiting crypto entirely, many users shifted funds to foreign venues that offered a wider range of products and market access.
A central driver was South Korea’s regulatory framework for centralized exchanges, which largely limits local platforms to spot trading. Market participants and researchers said those constraints pushed demand for offshore alternatives, particularly for derivatives products that are not broadly available through domestic exchanges.
The report also situates the movement of funds alongside a broader compliance crackdown in 2025. South Korean regulators, including the Financial Services Commission (FSC), increased enforcement pressure on major exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb, with a focus on anti-money laundering controls and customer verification standards.
The shift matters for one of Asia’s most active digital asset markets because large-scale migration to foreign exchanges can reduce liquidity on local platforms and complicate oversight, even as it underscores persistent demand for a broader set of crypto trading services.
Separately, policy frictions remain in the background. A dispute between the Bank of Korea and the FSC over stablecoin rules has contributed to delays around the country’s longer-term crypto legislation, adding uncertainty to how and when domestic rules may expand beyond the current spot-centered model.
- Amount moved offshore: more than ₩160 trillion (about $110 billion) in 2025
- Main pressure point: domestic exchanges constrained largely to spot trading
- Broader context: tighter AML and compliance enforcement, plus ongoing policy debate over stablecoin regulation
