Market cap of virtual assets in S. Korea crashes 33 pct in H1

SEOUL, October 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's virtual asset market experienced a sharp 33 percent decline in value during the first half of the year, driven primarily by falling prices of major cryptocurrencies, according to data released on Thursday. The market capitalization fell to 58.9 trillion won ($43.4 billion) by the end of June, down significantly from 87.2 trillion won in the previous half, as reported by the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

The daily average turnover of virtual assets dropped to 3.1 trillion won from 5.4 trillion won over the same period. The total value of Korean won deposits made by traders decreased by 35 percent to 5.2 trillion won during the January-June timeframe. As of June, there were 26 operators in the South Korean virtual asset market, including 17 crypto exchanges.

Despite this, the number of market users increased by 0.4 percent to reach approximately 11.17 million over the period. Additionally, the data revealed that 1,703 types of cryptocurrency were traded in the South Korean market as of December, a 29 percent decrease from the number of cryptocurrencies traded six months prior.