Trade Bitcoin in South Korea

This page answers one question for South Korea: how a resident actually gets BTC exposure, and what the rules say.

Is Bitcoin trading legal in South Korea?

Spot crypto is legal in South Korea and sits inside a registration regime with two layers. On top of that, the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users took effect on 19 July 2024 and added protection of user deposits and assets, rules against unfair trading such as price manipulation, and supervisory and sanctioning powers over VASPs. The regime is still tightening: on 11 August 2026 the cabinet approved a revision to the Enforcement Decree imposing stricter registration requirements and enhanced AML duties on VASPs.

What the contract is

A perpetual on BTC tracks price and does not confer ownership of the underlying — the same contract mechanics apply in every jurisdiction; what differs by country is legal status and funding rails.

Sign up on Canborsa with email, X or a wallet

No document upload to open the account. Canborsa is non-custodial: your collateral stays under your own keys until a position opens.

Email X Wallet

Fund the account with USDC

Deposit USDC over Canton, Robinhood Chain, Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain or Arbitrum. Canborsa takes no fiat, so buying the USDC happens wherever you normally buy stablecoins.

→Robinhood Chain

Open BTC-PERP

Pick BTC in the markets list. The ticket shows the live price, the current funding rate and max leverage 25x .

BTC-PERPPerpetual · USDC marginLONG

Choose Buy / Long, then set size and leverage

Buying $1,000 of BTC at 5x uses $200 of collateral. Higher leverage moves the liquidation price closer to your entry: your exposure is the position size, whatever margin you posted. Set a stop-loss below your entry before you walk away.

A 22% tax applies to annual crypto gains exceeding 2.5 million KRW (approximately $1,740), effective January 1, 2027.

Trading BTC from South Korea: legal.

Financial Services Commission (FSC), with the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) as the registration and AML authority.

27 platforms serve South Korea for Bitcoin trading, among them Aevo, ApeX and Aster.

On Canborsa, traders in South Korea can use up to 25x leverage on Bitcoin.