A woman passes by an electronic signboard at a cryptocurrency exchange in Seoul, April 18. Yonhap

The value of Korea's virtual asset market expanded over 50 percent from six months earlier in the second half of last year, on rising prices of cryptocurrencies, data showed Thursday.

The market capitalization of the virtual asset market had come to 43.6 trillion won ($32.2 billion) as of end-2023, up 15.2 trillion won, or 53 percent, from 28.4 trillion won tallied six months earlier, according to the data from the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

The total value of Korean won deposits made by traders also jumped 21 percent to 4.9 trillion won, while the operating profit of market operators advancing 18 percent to 269.3 billion won over the cited period.

There had been 37 virtual asset market operators in Korea as of end-2023, but the data is based on a survey of 29 operators, including 22 crypto exchanges, according to the financial regulator.

In the six months ended Dec. 31, the average value of daily crypto transactions reached 3.6 trillion won, up 24 percent from the daily average of 2.9 trillion won in the first half of 2023, according to the FSC.

The number of market users gained 6.4 percent to some 6.45 million over the cited period, while 4.55 million of them held virtual assets of less than 1 million won each.

The data also showed 600 types of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin, were traded in the Korean market in the second half, down from 622 in H1.

The max draw down rate of cryptocurrencies, which shows the price volatility, had stood at 61.5 percent as of end-December, down 0.9 percentage point from six months earlier.

The financial regulator warned that the price volatility of cryptocurrency "continues to remain high," while the number of market operators that close their business also continues to rise, which it said "requires extreme caution" before making an investment. (Yonhap)