The findings could also matter for Korea if rules later allow more corporate and foreign participation in crypto markets. The authors said deeper FX liquidity and wider use of the won abroad could help the market absorb shocks as links between stablecoins and traditional currency markets grow.
The effect extended beyond crypto markets, the study found.
For Binance-paired currencies, stronger stablecoin buying pressure was linked to local currency depreciation. Korea, which lacks a direct Binance won-stablecoin pair, showed no significant exchange-rate response. Instead, buying pressure mainly raised the local stablecoin premium.
In a separate test, using weekly data, a one-standard-deviation increase in Google searches for bitcoin, used as a proxy for crypto investment demand, was associated with a 0.118% depreciation of the Brazilian real. It also raised Brazil’s stablecoin premium by 0.109 percentage points.
The analysis covered 12 currencies with sufficient cross-exchange data, with pairing dates spanning 2019 to 2025.
