South Korea's Top Five Crypto Exchanges See Trading Volume Plunge 48.7% in Q2

According to TheBlock data platform, South Korea's five largest crypto exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Cobit, and Gopax—recorded combined trading volume of $149.09 billion in Q2 2026, down 48.7% year-over-year and 33.1% from Q1.

The sharp decline has intensified financial pressure across the digital asset industry. Cobit recently decided to sell its holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum to secure operational funding and cover administrative costs, signaling broader difficulties facing exchanges and custodial service providers amid prolonged market weakness and delayed regulatory frameworks such as the Digital Asset Basic Law.