Active users of South Korean registered exchanges reached 6.45 million at the end of last year, accounting for more than 10% of the country’s total population.

PANews reported on May 16 that according to Bloomberg, Korean retail investors flocked to local digital asset exchanges long before the global cryptocurrency boom pushed prices to a record high in early 2024. According to the semi-annual report on crypto asset business released by the Korea Financial Intelligence Service (KOFIU), as of the end of 2023, the number of active users of registered exchanges in the country increased by 390,000 to 6.45 million.

These users make up more than 10% of the country’s total population, 99% of whom are “individual” investors, with nearly 60% of them in their 30s and 40s. The country’s daily average cryptocurrency trading volume grew 24% to 3.6 trillion won ($2.6 billion) during the period, while the total value of cryptocurrencies held on registered exchanges soared 53% to 43.6 trillion won.