Majority of ‘wealthy’ South Koreans say no plan to invest in crypto, cite lack of trust

Danny Park

2 years ago

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The majority (58.3%) of South Koreans with assets of at least 1 billion Korean won (US$760,000) said they don’t plan to invest in cryptocurrencies, with most expressing distrust of digital currency exchanges, according to a survey by a think tank in South Korea’s KB Financial Group Inc.

Fast facts

The Korea Wealth Report 2022 is based on a survey of 400 people who fall into the wealthy category, though it was taken in June and July of this year, or right after the collapse of the Terra-Luna stablecoin that caused losses for thousands of investors in the country.
According to the report, about 420,400 South Korean adults fall into KB’s wealthy category out of a total population of 51.45 million.
Around 40% of those not interested in crypto investment cited a lack of trust in digital asset exchanges, while 36.1% said price volatility was the reason.
Just 7.8% held digital assets, down from last year’s 8.8%. The report said the number of those surveyed that sold and no longer hold crypto more than doubled to 10.8% from 4.5% in 2021.
While the average amount of crypto investments increased in the group to 87.2 million won from 83.6 million won last year, about 70% experienced losses, according to the report.
On the future of crypto, 28.8% said it is a fad that will fade, while 16.8% said crypto will be regulated out of existence.
The South Korean Terra-Luna crypto project, once valued at US$40 billion, collapsed in May following the depegging of the Terra stablecoin. The price of Terra’s sister cryptocurrency Luna plunged 99% in a matter of days, causing losses for hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide.
The average daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies in South Korea in the first half of 2022 fell 53% to 5.3 trillion won (US$4 billion) from the second half of 2021, according to the country’s financial regulator the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
South Korea had over 6.9 million crypto users at the end of June 2022, according to the FSC.