Virtual Asset Exchanges See 38% Plunge in Operating Profit Due to Declining Trading Volume

Results of the 2025 Second Half Survey on Virtual Asset Service Providers

It was found that the revenue and operating profit of virtual asset exchanges shrank in the second half of last year due to a decrease in virtual asset trading volume.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service announced the results of the 'Survey on the Status of Virtual Asset Service Providers for the Second Half of 2025' on the 25th.

According to the survey, in the second half of last year, the combined revenue of 18 virtual asset exchanges stood at 973.6 billion won, a decrease of 15% (175.1 billion won) compared to the previous half. Among the total revenue, trading fee income accounted for 98.8% at won-based exchanges such as Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax.

During the same period, operating profit dropped by 38% (237.1 billion won) to 380.7 billion won. While won-based exchanges recorded an operating profit of 395.8 billion won, coin-based exchanges posted an operating loss of 17.4 billion won.

This was due to a decrease in virtual asset trading volume. In the second half of last year, the total amount of virtual asset transactions was 1,001 trillion won, which represents a 14% decrease compared to the first half of last year (1,160 trillion won). The average daily transaction amount also fell from 6.4 trillion won to 5.4 trillion won during the same period.

As a result, dormant funds in the form of won deposits increased. In the second half of last year, won deposits reached 8.1 trillion won, up 31% (1.9 trillion won) compared to the previous half.

The number of user accounts also increased. During the same period, the total number of registered accounts, including duplicate and dormant accounts, rose by 6% (1.47 million) to 25.91 million. Among these, 11.13 million accounts had completed Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and were immediately available for trading. The vast majority (99.99%) of tradable accounts were individual accounts.

Meanwhile, in the second half of last year, the market capitalization of virtual asset exchanges fell by 8% (790 billion won) to 87.2 trillion won compared to the previous half. In contrast, the number of virtual assets traded domestically (including duplicates) increased by 13% (194 items) to 1,732.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.