Report: The Korean won accounts for about one-quarter of the global fiat currency cryptocurrency trading volume

Kaiko and Upbit recently jointly released a report showing that the Korean won accounts for about 25% of the global fiat-denominated cryptocurrency trading volume, second only to the US dollar (approximately 48.70%). On Upbit, a market buy order of 10 million Korean won typically has slippage between 0.005% and 0.02%.

The report points out that the South Korean market still primarily relies on fiat-native trading, with KRW trading pairs dominating trading activities. Stablecoins like USDT and USDC are more often used as assets traded against the Korean won rather than as the primary settlement medium. South Korean exchanges are deeply integrated with the banking system through real-name accounts and KYC, allowing users to directly withdraw and deposit in Korean won, reducing the demand for stablecoins as tools for withdrawal and deposit.

The report believes that the opportunities for Korean won stablecoins lie in on-chain settlement, cross-border payments, and DeFi scenarios, and may help narrow premiums by improving the efficiency of value transfer across markets. However, adoption still depends on regulations, reserve standards, redemption rights, and exchange integration.