Cryptocurrency Trading Is Now Bigger Than Stocks in South Korea
The price of Bitcoin is shown on a smartphone inside the Upbit customer lounge in Seoul, South Korea, on Nov. 14.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergSidhartha Shukla sizes up just how popular crypto trading has become in South Korea.
The declaration of martial law by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol amid a political dispute in the country shocked the world — including, for a brief period, crypto markets.
Market reaction to the news was much more exaggerated on Korean exchanges, with the price of Bitcoin against US dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether falling as low as $71,814.99 on Tuesday, at the same time that a Bloomberg composite of Bitcoin prices across global exchanges showed it trading around $93,600.
The dislocation, however brief, was more notable than it may appear at first blush: The so-called “Trump trade” wreaking havoc on Asian currencies and stock markets has increasingly pushed South Korean investors to seek refuge in volatile cryptocurrencies.