Five of South Korea's largest crypto exchanges have sent more stablecoins abroad than they received back for 18 straight months, with the cumulative outflow now topping $10.4 billion. New regulator data shows June's outflow alone rivaled a large share of Korean investors' overseas stock buying, and lawmakers are now pushing for a won-pegged stablecoin as a fix.
South Korea's five largest won-based crypto exchanges sent a net 560.3 billion won, about $367 million, in stablecoins to overseas platforms in June 2026, extending an uninterrupted outflow streak to 18 months. Since January 2025, the cumulative net outflow has reached $10.4 billion, or roughly ₩14.92 trillion, a sum that now rivals the country's total overseas stock investment over the same period.
An 18-month streak with no net inflow
Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax sent 2.7625 trillion won in stablecoins abroad during June and received 2.2022 trillion won back, according to Financial Supervisory Service data submitted to lawmaker Lee Jong-wook and reported by Yonhap News. The net outflow rose from May's 477.1 billion won but stayed below January 2025's peak of 1.1429 trillion won, when the current data series began.
In Q2 2026, net outflows reached 1.6872 trillion won, while Korean retail investors recorded 1.6185 trillion won in net sales of overseas stocks over the same quarter, per Korea Securities Depository figures cited by Yonhap. In June alone, stablecoin outflows equaled 77.6% of investors' net overseas stock purchases — though the comparison does not prove the same investors were behind both flows.
Derivatives and DeFi draw funds offshore
The transferred funds are believed to be used mainly for products unavailable on domestic exchanges — tokenized real-world assets, DeFi services and staking, including crypto and equity derivatives, the report said. Some offshore platforms also offer leveraged products tied to cryptocurrencies and major Korean stocks such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Hyundai Motor. Yet the FSS figures track transfers between exchanges rather than each wallet's final activity, so the link to specific products remains an estimate, not a transaction-by-transaction finding.
Domestic trading has weakened alongside the outflows: exchange volume fell 54.6% year over year in the first half of 2026. The active user ratio across the same exchanges dropped from 35.7% at the end of January 2025 to 19.5% by the end of June 2026. More than 400,000 KYC-verified users have stopped trading since activity peaked in March 2026.
Lawmakers press for a won-pegged stablecoin
Lee Jong-wook, the lawmaker who requested the FSS data, called for faster investor safeguards, saying investors were "being left defenseless against high-risk derivatives on foreign exchanges." He and fellow lawmaker Min Byeong-deok have called for a won-pegged stablecoin as a potential fix.
The Financial Services Commission discussed exchange internal controls, security standards and possible stablecoin issuer requirements at a March 4 Virtual Asset Committee meeting. It plans to prepare a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act covering stablecoins, exchanges and disclosures. The FSC cautioned in January that key provisions on stablecoin issuers and ownership structures had not been finalized.
Sources: crypto.news, Crypto Briefing
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