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Is South Korea becoming crypto’s main character?

Written by Gode S.,

Web3 Market Analyst

Last Updated: June 20, 2025

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Plus: A sheriff vs. Bitcoin ATM, Texas-style

Welcome

GM. This juice? 90% drama, 10% fiber, zero chill.

🇰🇷 South Korea's pro-crypto moves.

🍋 News drops: TikTok owners buying TRUMP, a sheriff cutting open a Bitcoin ATM + more

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🍍 Market flavor today

Find out more about the Fear & Greed Index here.

Name		Price	24H	7D
Crypto Market Cap: $3.25T -0.08% (24H)
	Bitcoin BTC	$104,292.48	0.08%	-0.88%
	Ethereum ETH	$2,497.93	-0.01%	-1.92%
	XRP XRP	$2.14	-0.40%	-0.13%
	BNB BNB	$644.25	0.76%	-1.08%
	Solana SOL	$143.58	0.02%	-2.27%

Prices as of 10:00 AM EST. Click here to see live data.

The charts are a bit greener than yesterday, which is nice, I guess... but sentiment's still a boring neutral, and Bitcoin's still in the $100K - $110K range - same as it's been for weeks now.

However, that kind of sideways action often means the market’s preparing for a bigger move.

Which way, though? Well... that's the problem. No one really knows.

Awkward Chrissy Teigen meme

CryptoQuant’s BorisVest pointed out that both long and short positions are building up at the same time.

Translation: traders are betting on both a price jump and a price drop.

That usually shows up in funding rates - fees that reflect which side of the market is more crowded.

And those rates are neutral = neither camp is dominating.

BTC price chart 06-20

Source: BitDegree

CryptoQuant’s Darkforst added that realized profits (the money people make by selling Bitcoin) are still relatively low.

Low profits + stable price = a market with low selling pressure, but also low excitement.

And what’s holding things back? Weak demand.

Darkfost says that there’s just enough interest to handle the selling, but not enough to actually push prices higher.

So overall, the market feels... balanced. No panic, no hype.

Bored SpongeBob

But there's also no sign that Bitcoin’s topping out just yet.

Trader Jelle mentioned the MVRV Z-Score - a tool that helps flag when BTC’s getting overpriced. When the score’s high, it often signals a top.

And it’s nowhere near that level now, which means that Bitcoin still has room to run.

Just maybe not today.

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🥝 Memecoin harvest

Analysts hate them - see how this random dog coin became a top performer today 🐕

Data as of 04:50 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

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🇰🇷 K-Crypto

In today’s episode of The Crypto FOMO Games: South Korea.

Here's what they've been cooking lately (and why you should care):

South Korea cooking

1/ Lowering fees

South Korea’s financial watchdog (the FSC) is reportedly gonna investigate how much local crypto exchanges are charging in transaction fees - and whether it's too much.

If needed, they might step in to regulate it.

This lines up with what South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae-myung, promised: to reduce crypto trading fees from 0.05% to 0.015%.

👉 And that's good because: lower fees = more participation = more liquidity.

Joe from Friends nice meme

2/ Spot ETFs on the way

The FSC is also planning to allow local spot crypto ETFs in the second half of the year.

The ETFs were previously banned because regulators considered crypto too risky. That seems to be changing, though.

👉 And that's good because ETFs let people invest in crypto through TradFi tools - key for attracting bigger investors and institutions.

3/ Stablecoins on the way, too

That same roadmap includes a plan to lift the ban on Korean won-based stablecoins.

👉 And that's good because it would give users access to a local, government-approved digital currency - the perfect entry point for new users = broader adoption.

Druski excited

Btw, if you’re not South Korean and read this like “don't care, not my country” 🙄 - DING DONG YOUR OPINION IS WRONG.

South Korea’s one of the biggest crypto markets on the planet. By the end of 2024, people there were holding over $75B in crypto.

And so, when their regulators make changes like this, it's not just local news - the impact can be felt everywhere.

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🍋 News drops

⚠️ A North Korea-linked hacking group is scamming people who are job hunting in crypto. They pretend to be recruiters from big companies like Coinbase to trick victims into thinking it’s a real offer.

💸 Visa teamed up with Yellow Card to push stablecoin adoption in Africa. Their goal is to make it easier and cheaper to send money across borders in the places where Yellow Card is already active.

👀 Rep. Brad Sherman claimed that TikTok’s owners were planning to buy $300M worth of the TRUMP memecoin. TikTok says it’s not true.

🤖 OpenAI isn’t working with Scale AI as much anymore after Meta decided to invest a bunch of money into it. Scale labels data, so AI models can learn from it.

🪚 A sheriff in Texas literally cut open a Bitcoin ATM to get back $25K that a family had lost in a scam. People are wondering whether the company that owns the machine got the short end of the stick.

📈 Blockchain sleuths say crypto scams are rising because of political memecoins, poor regulation, and dropped cases. ZachXBT also claims that influencers aren't facing any consequences for scamming their followers.

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