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

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.

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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.

See related article: S.Korea sees passing crypto investor protection as a priority: report