According to research firm Kaiko, the Korean Won has captured 30% of global crypto spot volume in 2026, making Korea the second-largest fiat-to-crypto market after the US dollar. The country's 52 million people now produce around $26 billion in weekly crypto turnover, with the surge coinciding with a parallel boom in Korean equities. As reported by Kaiko, Korea's domestic crypto market is concentrated on two exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, which together handle most of the country's roughly $26 billion in average weekly turnover from 2024 through 2026.
According to Kaiko data, about 85% of weekly Korean crypto trades flow into tokens outside Bitcoin, pointing to domestic appetite for higher-volatility assets over the majors. Despite the headline volume, Korean order books remain thinner than Japan's, with Upbit showing roughly $1 million to $1.2 million in market depth compared to Tokyo-based Bitflyer's $3.5 million across its books. Japan's market trades smaller but steadier, with Yen-denominated volume sitting at $2 billion to $3 billion monthly across four venues, highlighting Korea's retail-driven, high-velocity character against Japan's deeper institutional liquidity.
The crypto activity coincides with a record rally in Korean tech equities, where the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) returned more than 37% in the first quarter of 2026. As reported by Kaiko, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix accounted for roughly 45% of holdings in the ETF. Options positioning suggests traders expect the rally to extend, with call open interest on EWY climbing to about $5.5 billion in notional value, the highest level on record and well above prior peaks reached in 2015 and 2021. The driver is high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the chip variant required for AI training systems, where Samsung and SK Hynix dominate global supply.
In a significant development for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that the social media platform will replace the TON Foundation as the force behind Toncoin and become the largest validator. According to Durov's announcement, Telegram will take over control in 2-3 weeks, with the company becoming the largest validator of the Toncoin network. The news has been well-received by the market, with TON surging 33% in the past 24 hours to trade at $1.85, pushing its market cap past the $5 billion mark for the first time since November last year. Trading volume has also surged 650% to hit $753 million, with other tokens in the TON ecosystem benefiting significantly.
