Data: South Korea's top cryptocurrency exchanges have higher average daily trading volume than the country's stock market

On Sunday, trading volume in South Korea’s digital currency market briefly exceeded the country’s stock market’s daily average.

Data from CoinMarketCap showed that the 24-hour trading volume of major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges UPbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit totaled more than $14.6 billion on Sunday. On Friday, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was around $14.5 billion and the Korea Kosdaq Index (KOSDAQ) was around $10 billion.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) rose to a record high of over $61,000 on Saturday before falling below $60,000 again, amid an increase in trading volumes on major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges.

It’s worth noting that the volumes that appear on CoinMarketCap are not always considered accurate due to the prevalence of volume inflation. CoinMarketCap has launched several initiatives to combat inflated volume data, but these reported volumes are still higher than what is seen on Messari.

Last year, a number of cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea experienced regulatory and business-related challenges.

Last August, local authorities seized Coinbit, the country’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, following allegations that 99% of its volume was faked through wash trading. Coinbit’s 24-hour trading volume now stands at just over $900 million, according to CoinMarketCap.

Additionally, the South Korean arm of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance said late last year that it would cease operations in January, citing shrinking liquidity and low volumes on the BKRW trading pair. Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest exchange by volume, announced last week that it would implement new anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (KYC) measures.