South Korea Has 566,000 Foreign Crypto Accounts, but Almost None Trade
South Korea's five major cryptocurrency exchanges still have more than half a million accounts registered to foreign nationals, but almost none are being used.
Summary:
- South Korea’s five major crypto exchanges hold 566,352 foreign accounts.
- Only 517 foreign accounts have completed KYC requirements.
- Just 90 accounts recorded any activity during July.
- Most accounts appear to be remnants of the market before stricter 2021 rules.
New data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to lawmaker Park Sang-hyuk shows that only 90 of 566,352 foreign accounts recorded activity during July, highlighting how the country’s real-name banking requirements have effectively kept overseas investors outside its won-based crypto market.
More Than 85% of the Accounts Are Sitting at Bithumb
The headline number, shared by The Korea Times, gives an exaggerated impression of foreign participation because the accounts are heavily concentrated at one exchange and overwhelmingly dormant.
Bithumb alone had 484,846 foreign accounts, equivalent to roughly 86% of the total, according to the regulatory data. Upbit operator Dunamu followed with 42,449, while Coinone had 15,914, Digital Asset Exchange had 11,622 and GOPAX had 11,521.
The activity figures tell a very different story:
- Total foreign accounts: 566,352
- KYC completed: 517, or 0.09%
- Active during July: 90, or 0.01%
- Bithumb active foreign accounts: 0
- Digital Asset Exchange active foreign accounts: 0
- Upbit, Coinone and GOPAX: Each recorded only between 10 and 41 active foreign accounts
An account counted as active if it recorded at least one trade, exchange, staking transaction, deposit or withdrawal during the month.
That definition makes the 90-account figure particularly striking. It does not represent 90 frequent traders. An account needed only a single qualifying action to enter the active category.
Why 566,000 Accounts Remain Despite Almost No Trading
The gap is largely a legacy of South Korea’s 2021 regulatory overhaul.
Under amendments to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, crypto exchanges offering Korean won services were required to work with banks providing real-name deposit and withdrawal accounts. The framework formed part of a wider tightening of anti-money laundering controls across the country’s virtual asset industry.
For foreign nationals, obtaining the banking access needed to satisfy those requirements became extremely difficult. As a result, foreign participation in domestic won-based exchanges has effectively been blocked even though hundreds of thousands of older accounts remain in exchange databases.
Most of the 566,352 accounts are therefore believed to have been opened before the stricter framework took effect rather than representing hundreds of thousands of foreigners currently trying to trade in Korea.
Bithumb provides perhaps the clearest example. It holds by far the largest number of foreign accounts but currently prevents new foreign registrations, leaving it with 484,846 registered accounts and zero active foreign accounts in July.
Dormant Accounts Still Hold More Than KRW30 Billion in Crypto
Lack of trading does not mean the accounts are empty.
Foreign customers collectively held approximately KRW2.58 billion in cash deposits across the five exchanges at the end of July. Their cryptocurrency holdings were considerably larger at approximately KRW30.36 billion.
That creates an unusual structure in which a substantial pool of assets remains registered to a user group that has almost disappeared from day-to-day market activity.
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The distinction also matters when assessing the size of South Korea’s crypto market. Registered account totals can significantly overstate the number of investors who are actually capable of participating. In this case, only about one in every 6,300 foreign accounts recorded any activity during July.
Why South Korea Built Such a Restrictive Access System
The restrictions emerged from a broader effort to bring cryptocurrency trading within the country’s anti-money laundering framework.
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission required virtual asset service providers to register with the Korea Financial Intelligence
Unit, while exchanges seeking to offer won markets needed relationships with banks capable of providing verified real-name accounts. Banks were expected to assess factors including exchange transparency, business risk and exposure to financial crime.
The changes dramatically reshaped the domestic industry.
By the end of 2021, won-based exchanges accounted for roughly 95% of South Korea’s average daily crypto trading volume, according to the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit’s first comprehensive survey of the sector. The concentration meant access to a real-name banking relationship effectively determined whether an exchange could compete for the majority of Korean trading activity.
For foreign users, the same infrastructure became a barrier. Passing exchange-level KYC alone is insufficient when the user cannot satisfy the banking requirements needed for normal won trading.
The Numbers Revive the Debate Over Foreign Crypto Investment
South Korea’s crypto industry now has an economic reason to revisit the restrictions.
Industry participants cited by Yonhap argue that opening domestic exchanges to foreign investors could bring additional capital into the country, expand the tax base and improve the international competitiveness of Korean trading platforms.
There is also a market-structure argument. South Korea has historically developed a large domestic crypto market, but restricting overseas participation separates won markets from a significant part of global liquidity.
Removing those barriers would not simply reactivate all 566,352 accounts. Many may belong to users who have long since moved elsewhere, and any liberalization would still require exchanges and banks to satisfy anti-money laundering and identity requirements.
The more relevant question is whether South Korean policymakers eventually create a workable path for verified foreign investors to obtain the banking access needed to trade. Until then, the country’s 566,352 foreign crypto accounts will remain a misleading measure of international participation, while the 90 active accounts provide a much closer indication of how little foreign activity currently reaches its major exchanges.
The information presented in this article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or trading advice. Coinspress.com does not promote or advocate for any particular investment strategy, asset, or cryptocurrency project. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and unpredictable – always perform your own research and seek guidance from a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
