The new report reveals that large investors classified as “whales” account for more than 90% of South Korea’s central exchange transactions.
On-chain data has long suggested that Crypto whales will drive the Defi market, but analysts are now releasing their first objective statistics. These statistics shed light on the size and patterns of whale investors in centralized exchange.
Whales dominate the Korean market
Councillor Lee Hyun Sheen’s officeThe G Of People Power Party released its data on Tuesday. This report defines the top 10% of users in each exchange as “whale investors.” Next, we measure the share of total trading volume as “trade concentration.”
The original source of the data is the South Korean Financial Supervisory Services (FSS).
According to data, Bithumb had the highest trading concentration for whale investors out of the five largest domestic exchanges that help South Korea acquire.
The concentration was 97.97% in the first half of the year. This means that the bottom 90% of the exchange’s users accounted for just 2.03% of the total trading volume.
Top exchanges by trading concentration were GoPax (97.95%), Coinone (97.54%), Korbit (97.52%), and Upbit (89.36%). From a trading volume perspective, Upbit recorded its highest record at 1,488.6 trillion, followed by Bithumb at 589 trillion. Coinone, Korbit and Gopax ranked 3rd to 5th respectively.
The concentration increases with market capitalization
The report also found a higher trading concentration for large assets. However, even smaller cryptocurrencies showed concentrations of over 60%.
A monthly analysis of 10 lowest market cap assets from January 2023 to June 2025 revealed a Bithumb trading concentration of 83.8%. In contrast, Upbit was the lowest at 66.91%.
For a long time, new cryptocurrency lists for the Korean exchange have been associated with the “list effect.” This has resulted in a significant increase in prices. A list of major Korean exchange projects is often considered a blessing.
People widely viewed this as a symbol of the collective purchasing power of Korean investors, but data suggests that it could have been an extraordinary phenomenon. This phenomenon can be driven by a small number of whale investors.
Changing markets
Industry experts believe it gives a high concentration to the unique features of the Korean crypto market. In this market, centralized exchanges only allow spot trading, with the majority of users being retail investors.
The South Korean Financial Services Commission plans to allow crypto exchange accounts for up to 3,500 institutions. The change applies to professional investors registered later this year.
It remains to be seen whether Korea will continue to be considered a “cryptolist holy place” after this change.
Post-whales control over 90% of transactions in Korean crypto exchanges, the data show first appeared on Beincrypto.
