When an exchange starts selling its own Bitcoin to pay the bills, it is worth paying attention. That is exactly what Korbit, one of South Korea’s five licensed crypto exchanges, announced it would do: sell 15 BTC and 60 ETH between July 3 and July 31 to cover operating expenses, including labor costs.
The numbers tell a bleak story
The combined weekly trading volume across South Korea’s five major platforms, Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, fell to roughly 9.97 trillion won during the week of July 3 to July 10. That is approximately $6.65B, and it represents a 25.75% drop from the prior week alone.
Monthly average volumes across these platforms dropped from 125.2 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 98.1 trillion won in the first quarter of 2026. The 88% decline figure reflects the broader multi-month collapse in activity, not a single bad week. These are the lowest volume levels the market has recorded in two years.
Korbit’s decision to sell crypto assets to fund operations is, on one level, entirely mundane. Exchanges hold treasury assets, and when fee revenue dries up, those reserves become the backstop. The company, which is owned by Mirae Asset, has a track record of disclosing these moves publicly rather than quietly offloading holdings. Analysts who have reviewed similar situations have generally characterized this kind of gradual, pre-announced asset disposition as routine liquidity management rather than a distress signal.
