For a long time, South Korea has been regarded by many as a "cryptocurrency trading powerhouse." This is because a considerable portion of the population in South Korea is investing in cryptocurrencies, and the enthusiasm of its people for "cryptocurrency trading" may be relatively rare in the world.
After Trump won the US election in November this year, as the price of Bitcoin soared, the enthusiasm of the Korean people for cryptocurrencies has increased. According to data from the Bank of Korea, in November this year, the number of people holding cryptocurrencies on Korean exchanges exceeded 15.59 million - a figure equivalent to more than 30% of the total population of South Korea.
The number of people speculating in cryptocurrencies in South Korea has soared
The Bank of Korea concluded based on statistics on the number of investors with accounts on the five major Korean exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coin One, Cobit and Gopax, that as of November this year, the number of people holding cryptocurrencies on Korean exchanges exceeded 15.59 million, an increase of 610,000 from 14.98 million in October.
Currently, South Korea’s total population is estimated to be around 51.23 million. This means that the number of people holding cryptocurrencies is equivalent to more than 30% of the total population.
The report said that the number of cryptocurrency investors in South Korea has been rising, and it soared in November. This may be the result of highly optimistic market sentiment after US President-elect Trump won the election in early November. During his campaign, Trump has been promising to support the virtual asset industry and even threatened to include Bitcoin in the national reserve.
Looking back over the past few months, the number of cryptocurrency investors in South Korea was 14.74 million in July, 14.82 million in August, 14.88 million in September, and 14.98 million in October. In other words, it increased by an average of about 100,000 per month.
In addition, South Koreans’ total cryptocurrency holdings also increased from 586 trillion won (about 398.48 billion U.S. dollars) in July to 102.6 trillion won (about 69.768 billion U.S. dollars) in November. The average daily trading volume also increased from 2.9 trillion won (about 1.972 billion U.S. dollars) in July to 14.9 trillion won (about 10.132 billion U.S. dollars) in November.
Lim Kwang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said that the scale of crypto asset trading in South Korea is rapidly approaching a level comparable to the stock market.
“At all levels of government, preparations need to be made to improve the stability of the virtual asset market and establish a sound market trading mechanism that protects the rights and interests of users.”