Korea Faces 38,000 Untracked Crypto Card Downloads
South Korea will tax crypto gains next year, but 38,000 app downloads for overseas cards create a tracking gap.
Cumulative downloads of major crypto card apps in South Korea reached approximately 38,000 from January last year through July this year. These figures indicate a growing adoption of payment tools that bypass domestic exchange records. The Seoul Economic Daily reported this data based on an analysis by Tiger Research and Chainalysis.
South Korea will begin taxing cryptocurrency capital gains next year. Stablecoin payments made via these overseas cards will be subject to this new tax regime. Tax authorities classify such payments as asset disposal events that realize taxable income.
Transaction records evade domestic oversight
Crypto cards convert holdings into fiat currency at the point of payment. This conversion happens through overseas platforms and private wallets. Domestic tax authorities cannot track these transactions in real time.
Transactions on domestic exchanges leave a record with local operators. Overseas platforms do not report data to Korean financial institutions. A complete transaction cycle can occur without passing through any domestic financial node.
RedotPay leads domestic app usage
Hong Kong-based provider RedotPay accounts for approximately 25,000 of the total 38,000 downloads. This represents roughly two-thirds of the tracked market share. The remaining downloads are distributed among other major crypto card applications.
Enforcement limits persist despite new rules
Industry officials state that post-facto audits face practical limitations. Identifying countless small payments on overseas platforms is difficult. The current regulatory framework lacks the tools to monitor these specific offshore flows.
