According to a report by DeSpread Research, South Koreans are active cryptocurrency traders, with local exchanges ranking high in global trading volume, and a strong preference for altcoins and local tokens.
The report states that, based on an investigation by the South Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), the number of cryptocurrency investors in South Korea has reached approximately 6 million this year, accounting for 10% of the population. “Most of these investors primarily trade on centralized exchanges (CEX), which makes CEX highly influential in the South Korean cryptocurrency market.”
Since March, global CEX trading volumes have declined due to Bitcoin's sideways trading. However, local South Korean exchanges, including the largest one, Upbit, have bucked the trend. As of July, their trading volume growth even exceeded that of Binance. One of the contributing factors was the surge in XRP's price and volume following Ripple's legal victory.
Additionally, South Korean traders have a strong interest in altcoins and are less inclined toward mainstream coins. “Most individual investors on Upbit show a strong interest in altcoins with high profit potential and tend to accept the associated high risk. This is considered one of the reasons why the ratio of altcoin trading is high in the South Korean market.”
In South Korea, the choice of trading networks varies, and due to relatively low transaction fees, the Tron network is widely used for most transactions.