South Korea’s five registered cryptocurrency exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax — collectively recorded $366.58 billion in trading volume during the first six months of 2026, a 54.6% year-on-year collapse from the same period in 2025, according to NexBlock’s H1 2026 exchange data. Two forces drove the selloff in parallel: 13 million Korean retail “ants” rotated their capital into a KOSPI equity rally fueled by Samsung and SK Hynix, and Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol confirmed a 22% crypto gains tax on the record — before parliament — arriving January 1, 2027, with no fourth delay. For South Korea’s exchanges, that combination means the structural headwinds are multiplying, not…