Demand deposits at major Korean banks plunged by more than 30 trillion won ($22 billion) in a single month as funds flowed into the stock market, according to financial industry data.
As of January 29, demand deposits at Korea's five major banks—KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH NongHyup—stood at 643.26 trillion won, down 30.75 trillion won from 674.01 trillion won at the end of last year, industry sources said Wednesday. Although one business day remains, the monthly decline is on track to be the largest since January 2023.
Industry observers attribute the outflow to a large-scale "money move" into the stock market. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, investor deposits reached 100.28 trillion won on January 27, surpassing the 100 trillion won mark for the first time, before hitting a record 103.71 trillion won on January 29.
Time deposits also declined alongside demand deposits. The five major banks' time deposit balance stood at 937.21 trillion won as of January 29, down 2.07 trillion won from the end of the previous month. Combined, nearly 33 trillion won flowed out of demand and time deposits.
"Typically, when demand deposits decrease, time deposits increase in a complementary relationship, but we're seeing outflows from both at the start of the year," a banking industry official said. "With KOSPI and KOSDAQ showing strong gains day after day, more customers appear to be withdrawing funds from banks to move into the stock market."
The exodus to equities, combined with falling Bitcoin prices, has also caused trading volumes at cryptocurrency exchanges to plummet. According to CoinGecko, Upbit, Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, recorded 24-hour trading volume of $1.86 billion (approximately 2.7 trillion won) as of 8 p.m. the previous day, ranking 26th globally. Upbit had maintained a position of third or fourth place behind global leader Binance until last year but has recently fallen outside the top 20. Bithumb ranked 46th, Korbit 80th, while Coinone and Gopax fell outside the top 100.
In December 2024, monthly trading volume at Korea's five major cryptocurrency exchanges reached approximately 541 trillion won—nearly double the combined trading of KOSPI (approximately 175 trillion won) and KOSDAQ (approximately 125 trillion won). However, since the tide turned between the two markets in February last year, cryptocurrency trading volume has shrunk to roughly one-tenth of KOSPI and KOSDAQ combined.
"From November 2024 to January 2025, money flowed more into the cryptocurrency market, while from September 2025 to recently, it has flowed more into the stock market," a cryptocurrency industry official said. "Overall, cryptocurrency appears to have taken on more characteristics of a substitute for stocks."