Korean investors are looking towards Altcoins instead of Bitcoin and Ethereum
Despite the significant increase in price and high demand for Bitcoin and Ethereum in many countries around the world, Korean investors are choosing small-cap altcoins to trade and store.
According to a report from DeSpread Research, South Koreans are active cryptocurrency traders, with local exchanges outperforming global rivals in volume and having a strong preference for altcoins and local tokens.
According to a survey by the Korean Financial Intelligence Agency (KoFIU), the number of cryptocurrency investors this year in the country reached about 6 million, equivalent to 10% of the population. “The majority of these investors are mainly engaged in investment activities focused on centralized exchanges, making the influence of centralized exchanges in the Korean cryptocurrency market significant. tell. Since March, centralized exchanges around the world have seen a decline in trading volume as bitcoin trades sideways. But local exchanges in South Korea, such as the country's largest exchange Upbit, have bucked the trend, with trading volume growth outpacing market leader Binance in July. .
Part of the reason for this increase is a spike in XRP's price and trading volume following a favorable ruling in Ripple's lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission. Korean exchanges have reacted explosively to news related to Ripple. The trading volume of South Korea's four major exchanges, which recorded $27 billion in June, increased to $37 billion in July, up 37% from the previous month.
The report said that, after all, Korean traders are very interested in altcoins and not so fond of major tokens. The majority of individual investors on Upbit demonstrate a strong interest in altcoins with high profit potential and a tendency to accept the high risk involved. This is considered one of the reasons for the high altcoin trading rate in the Korean market Cryptocurrencies that dominate the global market, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Polygon (MATIC), have large trading volumes worldwide. However, in Upbit, their trading volume shows surprisingly low levels.
Notably among blockchain networks, the blockchain network of the digital currency Tron (TRX) is the most used network for transactions. The reason the Tron network is so widely used is because the transaction fees on this network are relatively lower than other networks. Low transaction fees are an important factor that attracts users to choose the network to conduct cryptocurrency transactions. This phenomenon shows that Korea has unique characteristics compared to the global market and reflects regional disparities in investors' investment preferences and strategies. Despite the resurgence in trading volumes on South Korean exchanges, local traders still rely on overseas platforms to store their digital assets. A September report from the national tax agency indicated that Korean investors hold about $99 billion worth of digital assets overseas.
