The number of South Koreans investing in cryptocurrencies recently surpassed 15 million, representing about 30% of the country’s population for the first time, reflecting their lofty aspirations towards US President-elect Donald J.’s crypto push. Trump.
Data from the Bank of Korea showed that the number of retail cryptocurrency investors in Korea reached 15.59 million by the end of November, an increase of 610,000 from the previous month.
This number represents the total of crypto investors with accounts at the country’s top five crypto exchanges – Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax.
After rising steadily by about 100,000 each month since July, it suddenly rose last month after cryptocurrency prices surged following the election of Trump, who has pledged to foster the cryptocurrency market, as next US president last month.
Trump’s promise to impose more taxes on U.S. imports has also deterred investors from traditional stock markets in Korea, one of the most trade-dependent economies, and pushed them to seek higher returns in the volatile crypto market.
The price of major crypto token Bitcoin exceeded 135.8 million won ($92,740) per unit in late November, up from 100 million won a month earlier.
The value of Korean investors’ digital currency holdings also reached 102.6 trillion won at the end of last month, up from 58 trillion won a month ago. It remained below 60 trillion won from July to October.
HIGHER TRADE VOLUME THAN KOSPI AND KOSDAQ
The average daily trading volume of crypto tokens on Korean crypto exchanges jumped to 14.9 trillion won, almost matching the total daily trading volume of stocks on the country’s two main exchanges – Kospi and Kosdaq.
It remained around 3 trillion won from July to October despite a steady increase.
Betting big on the optimistic outlook for the digital currency market, idle deposit funds on major Korean crypto exchanges also nearly doubled to 8.8 trillion won at the end of November from the end of October.
Korea is one of the top five crypto markets in the world, even before the recent buzz.
Driven by Koreans’ love for high-risk, high-reward investments, crypto tokens have become deeply integrated into the Korean financial landscape.
Upbit, Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange operated by Dunamu Inc., ranked fourth among the world’s most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges by Forbes earlier this year.
However, the country’s regulatory uncertainties, coupled with negative public perception towards digital coins, remain obstacles.
Write to Hanjong Choi at [email protected]
Sookyung Seo edited this article.
