South Korea’s KOSPI index has lost more than the entire market capitalization of BTC in the past 29 trading days.
As of today’s opening, it’s price was ₩6,089, down 35% from an all-time high of ₩9,385 on June 19. This means that constituents of the country’s benchmark index have lost more than the $1.3 trillion value of all circulating BTC in less than 30 trading sessions.
Specifically, market caps of the index’s constituents have declined from ₩7,670 trillion ($5 trillion) on June 19 to today’s ₩4,960 trillion ($3.4 trillion).
Although the decline was 35% denominated in won, the drop was only 32% in USD due to exchange rate fluctuations. Still, by either measure, the loss exceeds the total market cap of BTC.
Losses in South Korea’s speculative, crypto-friendly, and AI-focused stock market have been as spectacular to the downside as they were meteoric earlier this year.
Within yesterday’s trading session alone, the country’s stock index lost 10.8% of its value, extending losses since June 19 when the index hit an all-time high of ₩9,385.
Even a market-wide halt for 20 minutes by the Korea Exchange yesterday failed to pause the selling.
For context, if the S&P 500 were to drop 10.8% in one day, such a drop would erase over $7 trillion — more than the GDP of any country in the world besides the US and China.
Read more: South Korea recovers from martial law and XRP, BTC flash crashes
South Korea’s KOSPI drops faster than BTC
Tuesday’s drop from ₩6,000 trillion was its first reading below that threshold since April.
The market cap of BTC is about $1.3 trillion today. S. Korea’s five-week loss is more than $200 billion worse than that value.
In foreign exchange markets, the won was trading at ₩1,537 to the US dollar on the KOSPI index’s June 19 peak. Today, the won has strengthened slightly to ₩1,456.
— Global Markets Investor (@GlobalMktObserv) July 28, 2026
KOREAN STOCK MARKET MASSACRE IS INTENSIFYING:
The KOSPI index dropped as much as -10.9%, to the lowest level since mid-April.
The gauge is now down -36% from its June peak.
In effect, Korea Exchange has triggered its 9th circuit breaker of 2026, which temporarily halts… pic.twitter.com/JislSS8Wmt
Somewhat embarrassingly, BTC has lost its own market cap before — on its own. Its price has halved since its October 6, 2025 record high when its market cap was $2.5 trillion.
Yesterday, its market cap dropped to half that value: $1.26 trillion.
In percentage terms, BTC has fallen lower from its peak — 50% versus the KOSPI’s 32% in dollars — albeit over a longer time frame.
Record memory-chip earnings and financial leverage sent shares of two companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, on a rocketship journey earlier this year.
The AI industry pair now account for roughly half the value of the KOSPI.
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