Even During the Virtual Asset Boom... Domestic Wallet and Custody Operators Suffered

Uk Jin

Summary

The Financial Services Commission announced that although the virtual asset market grew last year, the usage scale of wallet and custody businesses significantly decreased.
The custody holdings of virtual asset wallet and custody operators were tallied at 1.5 trillion won, an 89% drop compared to the end of June.
The Financial Services Commission explained that the decrease in service usage by major users, both corporate and individual, was influenced by the closure of 4 operators.

Last year, the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) market grew rapidly, but the actual usage of virtual asset wallets and custody services plummeted.

The Financial Services Commission announced on the 20th the results of the '2024 Second Half Virtual Asset Business Survey'. This survey was conducted on 25 virtual asset businesses, including exchanges and wallet operators, from July to December last year.

According to the survey released by the Financial Services Commission, the custody holdings of virtual asset wallet and custody operators in the second half of last year were tallied at 1.5 trillion won, an 89% drop compared to the end of June (12.3 trillion won).

In terms of user scale, as of the end of last year, the usage scale of wallets and custody services by corporate and individual users was recorded at 1.5 trillion won and 1.1 trillion won, respectively, a decrease of 89% and 99% compared to the first half.

The Financial Services Commission explained, "The total custody holdings and number of users of custody and wallet operators decreased significantly as 4 out of 12 operators ceased operations."