South Korea’s Estimated Crypto Activity Reached $449.1 Billion

South Korea’s estimated crypto activity reached $449.1 billion in the 12 months ended June 30, 2026, while AI assets became the largest defined thematic category in won-denominated trading by June.

The estimate was 12.3% higher than in the prior 12-month period, with exchange-related flows rising by $51.1 billion. For the same period, estimates were $228.3 billion for Japan, $192.2 billion for Hong Kong, $176.3 billion for China and $140.4 billion for Taiwan.

The AI category moved ahead of payment tokens such as XRP among the defined themes. Those categories exclude 413 smaller or unclassified symbols, so they do not cover all Korean won-denominated crypto trading.

Worldcoin (WLD) recorded the highest listed South Korean trading volume among AI-themed assets, at $7.41 billion during the period. SAHARA had $3.2 billion, VIRTUAL $2.7 billion, BIO $2 billion and NEAR $1.7 billion.

In June 2026, AI assets accounted for 0.91% of measured yen-denominated activity. The corresponding share of measured won-denominated activity was 19.5 times that rate. Both figures describe AI trading’s share within activity measured in each currency, rather than its share of all crypto trades.

The reporting period ran from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. The crypto-economy measure combines inflows to services with domestic peer-to-peer and cross-border transfers. Country estimates also draw partly on web traffic, which can be affected by VPNs and other tools that obscure users’ locations.

A 22% tax on crypto profits was scheduled to begin in South Korea at the start of 2027. Lawmakers have delayed the measure before.