by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • South Koreans sent $367 million more in stablecoins out of the country than they brought back in June.
  • The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) handed those numbers to lawmaker Lee Jong-wook.
  • Traders are chasing something they cannot get at home.
  • Five exchanges handle almost all local crypto trading.

What Happened

South Koreans sent $367 million more in stablecoins out of the country than they brought back in June. It was the 18th month in a row that money left.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) handed those numbers to lawmaker Lee Jong-wook. The streak started in January 2025. Traders are chasing something they cannot get at home.

Why South Korea’s Stablecoin Outflows Keep Widening

Market Context

Five exchanges handle almost all local crypto trading. They are Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax.

The trend held even as the local market shrank. Seoul confirmed a 22% crypto tax for 2027, and domestic trading volume fell nearly 55% in the first half.

Korean platforms mostly offer plain spot trading. That is the whole problem.

The same hunger shows up in regulated markets. Koreans put a net $1.28 billion into foreign leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in June. That was more than triple the May total.

Why It Matters

Seoul did try to compete. Korea listed its first single-stock leverage ETFs on May 27. Less than a month later, FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin publicly criticized them.

Details

In June, they sent roughly $1.8 billion in stablecoins to foreign platforms. About $1.44 billion came back. The gap was $367 million.

Local media reported that across the whole second quarter, close to $1.1 billion left.

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The size is what caught the attention of lawmakers. Koreans bought about $470 million of foreign shares in June, according to the Korea Securities Depository. The stablecoin outflow matched 77.6% of that figure.

A year earlier, the ratio sat near 20%. Crypto money now leaves the country almost as fast as stock money.

One caveat belongs here. The FSS counts only the five licensed exchanges, so coins sent to private wallets first never show up.

What Foreign Exchanges Offer That Seoul Cannot

Foreign venues offer far more.

Crypto derivatives with heavy leverage

Dollar-based real world assets (RWAs)

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols

Staking rewards

Some also list Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor as tradable contracts. Leverage on those can run into the tens of times. A stablecoin transfer is the cheapest way in.

A bigger fix is on the way. Four agencies published a plan on July 19 to legalize won-backed stablecoins. A separate bill would treat crypto as national wealth.

The Leverage Unwind Sitting Behind the Numbers

The regulator’s worry proved well founded. Fourteen leveraged ETFs track Samsung and SK Hynix. Their assets shrank from about $10.7 billion at the end of June to $6.3 billion by July 13.