A Stunning Look Inside The World Of South Korea’s “Bitcoin Zombies”

When it comes to investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, while Japan’s “Mr Watanabe” retail investors may be the marginal traders “propping up the bitcoin market”, no nation has as much of its population invested – literally and metaphorically – in cryptos. In fact, according to a recent study, more than 3 in 10 salaried workers in South Korea have invested in one or more cryptos.
And the sole reason why bitcoin remains an unprecedented investment craze even as hackers have stolen millions, lawmakers are pushing for new taxes and regulations, and leading financial officials have called it a ‘Ponzi scheme” is that – so far at least – it has been the best investment for virtually anyone who has bought it: the S. Korean survey (which polled 941 people via email from Dec. 19 to 20, with about 80% of respondents in their 20s and 30s) revealed that of those who invested in cryptos, more than 80% made money from it, and about 20% made an average return of 425% on their investment. The average Korean investor owned some 5.66 million won ($5,260) in virtual currencies.
One more thing: what happens in South Korean crypto trading, does not stay in South Korea: the country is the world’s third-largest market in bitcoin trading after Japan and the US, with roughly 2 million digital-currency investors by one estimate – one in every 25 citizens. The country is also home to one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading exchanges, Bithumb.
The country’s crypto-trading craze is so pervasive that the country has developed the term ‘bitcoin zombie’ referring to people who check the cryptocurrency’s price around the clock. Even the country’s prime minister Lee Nak-yeon expressed concerns over Korea’s bitcoin craze, warning that ‘young people and students are rushing into virtual currency trading to earn huge profits in just a short period of time,’ and that ‘it is time for the government to take action as it could lead to serious pathological phenomena if left unchecked” forcing young people into illegal activities like drug dealing.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Sat, 12/30/2017 –.