 South Korea’s crypto investor surge drives CEX profits by 106% 
2024-10-31

Crypto investors saw a significant increase in South Korea, along with the profitability of the country’s digital asset exchanges.
South Korean cryptocurrency investors stood at 7.78 million during the first half of 2024, an over 21% increase from the second half of 2023 when the country saw 645 million digital asset investors.
The growing number of investors has pushed the cumulative operating profits of the top 21 local centralized exchanges (CEXs) to over 5,900 billion won, or $4.2 billion, marking a year-over-year (YoY) increase of above 106%, according to results from the country’s Financial Services Commission shared in local media reports.
Growing retail investors are an optimistic sign for a bull market, as the new-found capital will contribute to the continued price appreciation of the top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin BTCUSD and Ether ETHUSD.
Bitcoin nearly hit a new all-time high in anticipation of the US presidential elections. On Oct. 29, Bitcoin was just $200 away from a new record high after BTC rose above $73,600, the highest level since March 2024.
Yet, some analysts believe that Bitcoin’s current price action is a “Trump hedge” that lacks the fundamental macroeconomic conditions to push the world’s first cryptocurrency to a new all-time high.
South Korean crypto investors’ average portfolio is below $400
Over 68% of all South Korean cryptocurrency investors are males, with the largest subset being males over 30, who make up 1.58 million of the country’s investors.
South Korea also accounts for 1.5 million male investors above 40, 108 million above 20, and just 850,000 male investors above the age of 50.
However, the average crypto allocation of South Korean investors remains modest. Over 528 million, or 67% of all investors, held less than 500,000 won or $362 worth of cryptocurrencies in their portfolios.
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Conversely, only 10%, or 780,000 South Korean investors, held over 10 million won or $7,254 worth of digital assets, while only the top 1.3%, or 100,000 investors, held over 10 billion won or $7.25 in digital assets.
Looking at the largest holding of South Korean investors, over 37% was in Bitcoin, 11% in Ether, 10.6% in the XRP (XRP) token, 2.8% in Dogecoin (DOGE) and 2.7% invested in Ethereum Classic (ETC).