Frenzied South Korea Crypto Trading Set Stage for Bitcoin Record

(Bloomberg) — South Korean retail investors were piling into local digital asset exchanges in greater numbers well ahead of the global cryptocurrency boom that sent prices to record highs in early 2024.

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According to the semi-annual report on crypto asset businesses published by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KOFIU), the number of active users of registered exchanges in the country increased by 390,000 to 6.45 million by the end of 2023.

Representing more than 10% of the country’s total population, 99% of these users identified as “individual” investors, and approximately 60% of them were in their 30s and 40s. The average daily crypto trading volume in the country increased by 24% during this period, reaching 3.6 trillion won ($2.6 billion), while the total value of crypto money held on registered exchanges increased by 53% to 43.6 trillion won.

The report underlines how South Korea has become a vital growth organ in global crypto markets. The South Korean won became the most traded currency against crypto assets globally in the first quarter of 2024, overtaking the US dollar. Upbit, the dominant exchange in the country, has at times ranked among the world’s top five in terms of trading volume.

Read more: Upbit Boosts Korean Crypto Boom to Top Five Global Exchange Spots

“Trading volume, market capitalization, operating income of exchanges, deposits in Korean won all increased compared to the first half due to the increase in crypto prices and the recovery of investor sentiment,” KOFIU said in a statement. said. “The number of crypto trading users has recovered since the first half of 2023,” the agency added.

Even after the collapse of TerraUSD, the ill-fated stablecoin created by South Korean native Do Kwon, crypto enthusiasm in the country is so high that a major political party vowed to give Koreans access to US Bitcoin ETFs in last month’s parliamentary elections.

Starting in July, regulators in South Korea will enforce the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which imposes strict new requirements on exchanges and tougher penalties for abuses in the industry.

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