Crypto Outflows From South Korean Exchanges Reach $507 Billion Over Five Years

Forecast Trend Report by Period

Tiger Research Reviews Five Years of Trading Data

Crypto assets worth about 700 trillion won ($507 billion) flowed from South Korean exchanges to overseas platforms over the past five years, according to a new analysis.

Web3 research firm Tiger Research released its "Report on the Outflow of Digital Assets From Korea" on August 12. The study, conducted with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, analyzed about 5 million exchange-linked addresses in and outside South Korea and 120,000 wallets believed to belong to Korean users.

Tiger Research estimated that crypto assets worth about 168 trillion won ($122 billion) moved overseas in 2025 alone. It forecast outflows of 77 trillion won ($55.8 billion) for 2026. Korean crypto investors also paid about 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) in fees last year while using overseas exchanges.

The firm said demand for derivatives trading that domestic exchanges could not absorb is shifting to decentralized exchanges. From January 2024 through July 2026, wallets identified as belonging to Korean investors deposited 2.4 trillion won ($1.74 billion) into three decentralized exchanges, including Hyperliquid, according to Tiger Research. Those platforms offer leveraged products such as perpetual futures.

Si-on Park, Hankyung.com reporter, ushire908@hankyung.com