Report: South Korea faces $115B crypto capital flight this year

An estimated 160 trillion won ($115.3 billion) is flowing out of South Korea's cryptocurrency market to overseas exchanges this year, with the corresponding fee revenue also moving offshore, according to a new report from Tiger Research. The Asian Web3 research and consulting firm stated that the core reason for the capital flight is an "asymmetry of investment opportunities," noting that overseas exchanges offer derivatives and pre-market trading that allow investors to capture early profits. The report warned that it is not just capital that is leaving. Based on the estimated outflow, Tiger Research calculated that Binance has likely earned around 2.73 trillion won ($1.97 billion) in fee revenue, followed by Bybit with 1.12 trillion won ($807 million), OKX with 580 billion won ($418 million), Bitget with 270 billion won ($194.5 million), and Huobi with 70 billion won ($50.4 million). The firm argued that simply blocking access to these exchanges is not a solution, as it could create a "balloon effect" that disperses funds into regulatory blind spots. Instead, it recommended an approach that allows for innovation within a manageable framework.