Asia Market Daily: South Korea halts leveraged semiconductor ETFs amid regulatory crackdown (2026/7/16)

South Korea suspends new single-stock leveraged ETFs and raises margin bar South Korea's Financial Services Commission has halted new listings of leveraged ETFs tracking individual stocks like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix , citing risk concerns. The regulator also banned advertising and will triple basic margin requirements from 10 million won to 30 million won ($22,300) starting August, accepting only cash as collateral. Brokerage firms must tighten premium/discount management to a 2% limit, and mandatory investor education is extended to three hours. The crackdown comes amid recent volatility in the KOSPI index, which fell 6.72% on the day, with SK Hynix dropping 11.5%. Bithumb and Upbit to delist multiple tokens on August 18 South Korean exchange Bithumb will terminate trading support for GRACY, SPURS, ZTX, WIKEN, and FITFI on August 18 due to unresolved designation concerns. Rival Upbit simultaneously announced the delisting of SPURS on the same date. The move reflects ongoing tightening by Korean exchanges on underperforming or high-risk tokens, potentially affecting liquidity for traders in the region. HTX DAO burns $13.6 million in Q2 token destruction HTX DAO, affiliated with the Huobi-linked HTX exchange, completed its Q2 burn on July 15, destroying 7.47 trillion $HTX worth over $13.6 million. Cumulative burns and donations now exceed 117.79 trillion tokens, with $32.82 million burned in the first half of 2026 alone. The consistent quarterly reductions underscore the exchange token’s deflationary mechanism despite challenging market liquidity, supporting its ecosystem resilience. RWA sector leads crypto market with 6.40% daily gains Among crypto sectors, Real-World Assets (RWA) surged 6.40% in 24 hours, driven by Ondo Finance (ONDO) soaring 15.92% and Centrifuge (CFG) rising 2.87%, per SoSoValue data. The broad market showed narrow swings, with Bitcoin inching above $65,000 before retreating and Ethereum reclaiming $1,900. DeFi and PayFi sectors also…