South Korea's cryptocurrency market is facing regulatory bottlenecks, with an estimated 160 trillion won flowing out of the country to overseas platforms last year.

Due to domestic regulatory restrictions, South Koreans transferred over 160 trillion won (approximately $110 billion) to foreign cryptocurrency exchanges last year. Analysis indicates that the delayed implementation of South Korea's Digital Assets Basic Law created a regulatory vacuum, forcing investors to turn to overseas platforms. Research found that cryptocurrencies have become a major investment asset in South Korea, with the number of investors increasing to 10 million, and exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb generating trillions of won in revenue. However, the report shows that while South Korean investors continue to actively trade cryptocurrencies and increasingly turn to overseas platforms such as Binance and Bybit, the growth of domestic exchanges has stagnated. This regulatory vacuum has raised concerns among market participants, who worry that South Korean centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are increasingly struggling to compete with overseas platforms offering more complex trading products. (CoinDesk)