Crypto Users in South Korea Reaches 7.78 Million Amid Growing Adoption

Crypto adoption in South Korea is soaring amid a surge in bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market. According to an Oct. 31 report from the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Financial Services Commission, the number of crypto investors in South Korea surged to 7.78 million in the first half of 2024. This marks an increase of 21% or 1.33 million from the second half of last year to the first half of this year.

BTC Soars 

The surge comes amid a notable rise in the price of bitcoin and the broader crypto market. Earlier this week, BTC surged above the $73,000 threshold, nearing its all-time high (ATH) of $73,737, achieved in March 2024. Several other popular cryptocurrencies like ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) also experienced notable gains.

Analysts have attributed this surge to strong institutional inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs and the increasing odds that crypto-friendly candidate Donald Trump might return to the White House following the upcoming elections.

“The inflow of funds into the US Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund ( ETF ) and the US presidential candidates’ announcements of virtual asset support policies have spurred the rise in virtual asset prices,” the Financial Intelligence Unit said.

Aside from the increase in users, South Korea’s crypto sector is also seeing a rise in market activity amid a surge in the pioneering cryptocurrency.

Per the report, the average crypto transaction volume surged by 2.4 trillion won ($1.7 billion) or 67% to 6 trillion won (US$4.3 billion) from the second half of last year to the first half of this year. During this period, the market value of all cryptocurrencies increased by 27%. Thanks to this metric, the operating profit of 21 domestic digital asset businesses also rose by 106% compared to the second half of last year, totaling 590 billion won ($428 million).

Increase in Crypto Holdings 

Around 67% of crypto investors held at least 500,000 won ($362) worth of crypto assets. Investors with investments worth more than 10 million won ($7,256) accounted for around 10 % (780,000), those holding assets worth more than 100 million won ($72,563) accounted for 1.3% (104,000), while investors holding 1 billion won ($725,636) worth of crypto accounted for 0.03% or 3,500.

The report revealed that most of these crypto holders are men in their 30s. The number of male investors within this age range was 1.58 million, followed by men in their 40s (1.5 million), men in their 20s or younger (1.08 million), and men in their 50s (850,000).

From a gender perspective, male investors accounted for 5.29 million, or 68 % of the total.