30% Of Global Crypto Trading is Coming from South Korea, Research Finds

Won-denominated trades have accounted for 30% of all spot cryptocurrency volume globally so far in 2026, putting Korea second only to the US dollar market, according to research firm Kaiko. The country’s 52 million people now produce around $26 billion in weekly crypto turnover.

The surge runs alongside a parallel boom in Korean equities, where the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) has returned over 37% year-to-date through March 11, 2026, fueled by demand for the memory chips powering the global AI buildout.

Korean Crypto Volume Concentrated on Two Venues

Korea’s domestic crypto market is concentrated on two exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb. Together, these exchanges handle most of the country’s roughly $26 billion in average weekly turnover from 2024 through 2026, based on Kaiko data.

Altcoins drive the bulk of activity. 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. Upbit shows roughly $1 million to $1.2 million in market depth, while Tokyo-based Bitflyer holds about $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.

The split highlights Korea’s retail-driven, high-velocity character against Japan’s deeper institutional liquidity.

AI Memory Cycle Drives Record EWY Call Positioning

The crypto activity coincides with a record rally in Korean tech equities. EWY, the largest US-listed Korea ETF from iShares, returned more than 37% in the first quarter of 2026. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix accounted for roughly 45% of holdings.

Options positioning suggests traders expect the rally to extend. Call open interest (buy orders) on EWY climbed 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. Samsung and SK Hynix dominate global HBM supply, placing Korean industrial output at the center of every major data center expansion this cycle.

“When call open interest explodes like this, it means traders are making MASSIVE leveraged bets that a stock is about to rip higher…This is the kind of positioning that only happens when big players see something coming. And here’s the key part most people miss: Samsung and SK Hynix make up 45% of EWY. Both are at the center of the AI memory chip cycle. This isn’t really a Korea bet, but it’s a leveraged AI bet through a different door,” an analyst commented.

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Same AI Demand Repricing US Energy Markets

The same infrastructure cycle is repricing power markets thousands of miles away. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon allowances rose 31% over the past week to $47 per metric ton, hitting a four-year high.

The program covers power plant emissions across ten Northeastern US states.

That level briefly exceeded California’s $44 record from 2024, an unusual inversion given RGGI has historically traded at a discount to the West Coast benchmark.

Virginia’s planned reentry into the program in July is expected to further lift demand, as the state hosts a high concentration of AI data centers.

For Korean investors and traders, the read-through is direct. The AI demand that lifts US power prices is the same demand that inflates Samsung’s order book, drives EWY call positioning, and ultimately circulates through Korean crypto venues as retail risk appetite.

Whether the Korean Won retains its position as the world’s second-largest fiat-to-crypto market depends on how durable the AI capex cycle proves to be through 2026. Q2 earnings from Samsung and SK Hynix will offer one of the clearest near-term signals.