South Korean crypto market grows to $45.9B in 2021 despite strict regulations

South Korea’s crypto market grew to 55 trillion Won ($45.9 billion) by the top of 2021, as per a brand new research from the nation’s chief monetary regulator, the Financial Service Commission.

South Korea is taken into account among the many strictest crypto markets in phrases of regulatory coverage implementations and made common headlines all through 2021 for its new journey rule and Know Your Company necessities. However, the Korean crypto market has bloomed to new heights despite the regulatory scrutiny in 2021.

The FSC analyzed transaction knowledge from the 24 licensed crypto exchanges and revealed that every day transactions on Korean crypto exchanges reached 11.3 trillion gained ($9.4 billion). The mixed working revenue of 24 companies got here to 3.37 trillion gained ($2.8 billion). A complete of 9 crypto exchanges reported a internet loss over the previous yr.

The crypto buying and selling market was dominated by nationwide fiat Korean-won which accounted for 95% of the entire crypto transactions which primarily got here from Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit.

The domination of gained in the Korean crypto market is attributed to a brand new crypto license regulation issued in 2021, that required crypto exchanges to open real-name financial institution accounts of merchants in affiliation with a licensed financial institution. The specific regulations pressured almost 200 small and medium crypto exchanges out of enterprise as banks refused to accomplice or provide any of their companies.

Related: Korea’s crypto market is among the many strongest — and the strangest — in the world

The FSC report published by The Korea Herald suggests there are a complete of 15.3 million registered crypto trade customers, out of which solely 5.58 million individuals participated in buying and selling in 2021. Out of those 5.58 million crypto customers, almost 3.1 million customers maintain crypto property price under 1 million gained ($850), whereas 15% of the merchants maintain digital property over 10 million gained ($8,500).

South Korea’s crypto license regulations wiped the vast majority of the medium and small exchanges in a foreign country and people who survived had to adhere to strict privateness legal guidelines, banning transactions from the non-public wallets and flagging transactions above a certain quantity. Another proposal was issued in November for token issuers geared toward recovering illegally gained funds, doling out prison punishments, and defending buyers from future malfeasance.

Another proposal was issued in November for token issuers geared toward recovering illegally gained funds, doling out prison punishments, and defending buyers from future malfeasance.

By the ultimate quarter of 2021, the Korean regulators focus shifted in the direction of crypto taxation, with a proposal to impose a 20% tax on crypto earnings. However, in absence of clear regulations for the market, the tax coverage was delayed for an additional yr.

The nation has additionally shifted its concentrate on nonfungible tokens in the latest previous and would possibly grow to be one of many first nations to difficulty NFT tax regulations.