korea

The Kobeissi Letter posted on platform X, stating that according to Goldman Sachs data, over 1.2 million leveraged retail trading accounts in South Korea triggered margin call notifications, with an estimated 320,000 to 360,000 accounts completely liquidated, accounting for about 3.4% of the adult population in South Korea.As the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) has fallen approximately 18% since July 13, it is expected that the number of accounts that have been completely forcibly liquidated has now exceeded 500,000.

According to South Korean media reports, the Bank of Korea participated in the real transaction testing of the global payment settlement project "Agora Project" led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), successfully completing transactions using tokenized reserve funds.A total of 28 institutions participated in this test, including the Bank of Korea, central banks from various countries, and private financial institutions, covering six currencies: Korean won, US dollar, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, and Japanese yen. Domestic participating institutions in South Korea include KB Kookmin Bank, NongHyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, and Hana Bank. The participating institutions conducted real transaction tests valued at approximately 800,000 Swiss francs, covering multiple currencies and testing 17 different transaction scenarios. The Bank of Korea stated, "In the future, the Agora Project plans to conduct more real transaction tests by identifying transaction types and scenarios not covered in this test."

According to the Korea Herald, the Korea Exchange conducted an internal review on July 29 regarding the technical feasibility and system requirements for a temporary ban on short selling and narrowing the price limit (currently at 30%) to address the recent severe fluctuations in the stock market. Sources familiar with the matter stated that "only technical feasibility was confirmed," and it was not a prerequisite for implementation, but rather a screening process during the review of available emergency measures.Recently, the South Korean stock market has continued to plummet, causing increasing damage to individual investors. During a meeting of the National Assembly's Administrative Committee, several lawmakers urged authorities to consider a temporary ban on short selling and to restart the Securities Market Stabilization Fund. A national petition to suspend short selling garnered over 10,000 signatures within two days of being made public. However, the ban on short selling conflicts with South Korea's goal of being included in the MSCI developed market index; a previous 17-month short selling ban from November 2023 to March 2025 had led to MSCI downgrading South Korea's market accessibility rating. The exchange's officials stated that they have not received any related requests from the government and have not formally discussed a short selling ban.

According to Digital Asset, on July 28, 15 members of South Korea's People Power Party, including Kim Sang-hoon, proposed an amendment to the Specific Financial Information Act, allowing financial authorities to request the suspension of payments for virtual asset accounts suspected of being used for illegal asset transfers.The amendment defines "account" as a unique identification number provided by exchanges to users. The Financial Intelligence Analysis Institute can request a suspension of payments for 30 days when an account is deemed suspicious, which can be extended once. Those who do not comply may face fines of up to 100 million won. The bill will take effect six months after its announcement.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index rose 5% during the day, currently reported at 5,950.55 points.Samsung Electronics rose by 7%, and SK Hynix increased by 3.2%.

According to DigitalAsset, South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol stated at a plenary meeting of the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee that the taxation of digital assets will be implemented as planned on January 1, 2027, and the system may be supplemented and improved if necessary thereafter.According to the current income tax law, the portion of income from digital asset transactions exceeding 2.5 million won will be subject to a 20% tax rate (including local taxes up to 22%). The implementation was originally scheduled for 2022 but has been postponed three times due to insufficient infrastructure. In response to concerns raised by People Power Party member Kim Sang-hoon regarding the non-application of loss carryforward deductions potentially leading to a decline in domestic demand and capital outflow, Koo stated that stock investments also do not allow for loss carryforwards, and the taxation can be reviewed and improved at any time. Regarding the introduction of a capital gains tax similar to that in overseas markets, Koo mentioned that a comprehensive and systematic consideration of the overall capital market is necessary.

The decentralized exchange Aster announced the launch of Korean RWA Season 1: Taker Showdown trading event, which will take place from July 30 to August 6, lasting for 7 days. The designated trading pairs are SKHYNIXUSDT and SAMSUNGUSDT, with a total prize pool of 10,000 USDT, divided into three parts: Taker Trading Volume Leaderboard (4,000 USDT), Profit and Loss Leaderboard (4,000 USDT), and Participation Prize Pool (2,000 USDT). The event is open to all new and existing users (excluding market makers), and only Taker trading volume during the event period will be counted. Rewards will be distributed in USDT within 14 working days after the event ends. Aster stated that more trading pairs may be added later based on market conditions.

According to Jinshi reports, Samsung Electronics stated that the depreciation of the Korean won had a positive impact of 3.1 trillion won in the second quarter.

According to Jinshi reports, the South Korean Ministry of Finance stated that South Korea is committed to taking more measures to stabilize the stock market, will take steps to limit leveraged ETF trading, and will restrict retail investors' exposure to leveraged ETF investments, maintaining a 24-hour stock market monitoring system.

According to the Korea Herald, the South Korean government and industry have established the AI Data Center (AIDC) alliance, planning to cultivate AI data centers into the next generation of export industries through public-private cooperation.

According to Jinshi reports, Gina Kim, the emerging markets equity portfolio manager at Nordea Asset Management in Singapore, stated that the current sell-off in the South Korean stock market seems to have irrational and panic-driven components, primarily focused on technology stocks related to artificial intelligence.Some of the sell-off behavior can be reasonably explained, such as reducing risk before the summer vacation, margin requirements, and recent news reports regarding the sustainability of capital expenditures in artificial intelligence. Due to single stock limits rather than fundamental reasons, the company has reduced some of its larger technology stock holdings.

According to Jinshi reports, the China-Korea semiconductor ETF Huatai-PB (513310) saw a record high trading volume today, with a total transaction amount reaching 25.98 billion yuan, setting a new record and increasing by 121.1% compared to the previous trading day. The top two holdings of this ETF are Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

According to Jin Shi reports, on Wednesday, Korean retail investors faced forced liquidations of approximately 1.7 trillion won (about 1.2 billion USD) in positions.Jung In Yun, CEO of Fibonacci Asset Management, stated, "Today there are many cases of forced liquidations, and we need to wait until the selling sentiment of retail investors eases before taking action."

According to Edaily, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea plans to jointly draft a unified government bill for the "Basic Law on Digital Assets" with the ruling Democratic Party, covering the issuance and circulation of stablecoins, business rules for digital assets, exchange admission requirements, information disclosure, internal control, and system resilience standards. Currently, there are 10 related bills pending review in the National Assembly, but there has not yet been consensus on core disputes such as whether the issuers of won-pegged stablecoins must be bank holding companies and whether to impose shareholding restrictions on major exchanges. The FSC has not yet determined the submission date for the bill.Meanwhile, the opposition party's People Power Party lawmaker Song Yeon-sik submitted a proposal to abolish the cryptocurrency income tax amendment to the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee for review on Wednesday. Additionally, a tax abolition petition supported by over 50,000 people is also expected to be submitted to the petition subcommittee. According to the current plan, starting from January 1, 2027, cryptocurrency transfers or lending income exceeding 2.5 million won per year will face a 20% income tax plus a 2% local tax. The government and the ruling party support the timely implementation, while the opposition party believes it is unfair to tax cryptocurrencies when most ordinary stock investors remain tax-exempt.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index fell below 5,500 points, down 8.73% during the day.

According to Jinshi reports, the Korean Exchange has activated the circuit breaker mechanism for the KOSDAQ index, suspending trading for 20 minutes.

According to Jinshi reports, the Bank of Korea stated that inflation will exceed the target in the second half of the year, so it is necessary to maintain a tight policy stance.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index opened up 1.2%, with SK Hynix rising 2%, following the announcement of a surge in second-quarter operating profit, although it was below expectations; Samsung Electronics rose 3%. The Nikkei 225 index opened up 0.18%.

According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, a trader opened a 4x leveraged long position of 23,251.544 SKHX (worth 24.67 million USD) today at 14:38, with an entry average price of 1106.8 USD, and is currently facing an unrealized loss of 1.074 million USD.This wallet has now become the TOP2 holding address for SKHX on Hyperliquid.