Koreans flock to cryptos amid Trump-driven crypto craze


The number of South Koreans investing in cryptocurrencies has recently surpassed 15 million, which accounts for about 30% of the country’s population, for the first time, reflecting their lofty aspirations for US President-elect Donald J. Trump’s crypto push.
Data from the Bank of Korea showed that Korea’s retail cryptocurrency investors reached 15.59 million as of the end of November, up 610,000 from a month ago.
The number is the total of crypto investors with accounts in the country’s top five crypto exchanges – Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax.
After steadily increasing by about 100,000 every month since July, it suddenly surged last month after crypto prices soared following the election of Trump, who has vowed to foster the cryptocurrency market, as the next US president last month.
Trump’s pledge to slap more taxes on imports to the US has also spooked investors away from the traditional stock markets in Korea, one of the most trade-reliant economies, and has made them search for higher returns from the volatile crypto market.
The leading crypto token Bitcoin price topped 135.8 million won ($92,740) per unit as of the end of November from 100 million won a month earlier.
The value of Korean digital currency investors’ holdings also reached 102.6 trillion won as of the end of last month versus 58 trillion won a month ago. It hovered below 60 trillion won from July to October.
HIGHER TRADING VOLUME THAN KOSPI AND KOSDAQ
The daily average crypto token trading volume on Korean crypto exchanges jumped to 14.9 trillion won, nearly matching the total volume of daily stock trading on the country’s top two stock exchanges – the Kospi and Kosdaq.
It had stayed around 3 trillion won from July to October despite its steady increase.
Betting big on the rosy outlook for the digital currency market, deposit funds sitting idle in major Korean crypto exchanges also nearly doubled to 8.8 trillion won in end-November from end-October.
Korea is one of the world’s top five crypto markets even before the recent buzz.
Driven by Koreans’ love of high-risk, high-return investment, 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 trustworthy cryptocurrency exchanges by Forbes early this year.
However, the country’s regulatory uncertainties, coupled with negative public perceptions toward digital coins, remain hurdles.
Write to Hanjong Choi at [email protected]
Sookyung Seo edited this article.