Why There's Such Cryptocurrency Boom in South Korea?
This is a hard question.
And I'm not even familiar to the cryptocurrency markets yet.
But I want to talk about this topic because I read a news saying almost 25% of cryptocurrency is now being traded in South Korea.
It certaintly is Booming!
Before I start talking about this topic, I want to point out a fact.
No offense(I am also Korean), but I feel like many Koreans(not all) like betting their earnings.
The real estate value in Seoul is one of the highest in the world.
And the growth rate has been so high also.
The price has spiked for tens of years.
That happens because of the old merit; land does not go away.
and one more reason; "Scarcity"
The word "scarcity" does not only indicate that the production shortage compared to the necessity, but also socio-economic matters.
I would say that, among all the abandoned lands, there are certain places people want to live, or want to settle.
The reasons are various.
Like our ancients wanted to have water resource close, contemporary people want to have infrastructures such as hospitals, police stations, fire stations, schools for their children, and even theaters to enjoy.
And because of that reasons, the price of lands people want to settle has kept going up.
What does it matters to the cryptocurrency boom in South Korea?
In today's networked world, The real estate is an old concept of wealth now.
People can go wherever they want because of cars.
People can buy what they need on their couches, and even there are delivery services for meals in Korea.
The value of the real estate will not vanish suddenly, but the growth rate won't be as high as before.
However, the problem occurs at this part.
"If the real estate value does not go up as before, where should I put my earnings to get what our parents earned by investing the real estate?"
The value of government issued notes does not go up.
Because of the inflation, it even decreases slowly.
Stock Markets can be a good alternative, and it has been until recently.
But it has too many regulations.
Cryptocurrency markets?
There are not many regulations, and even it's fun to invest(if I put it that way)!
I began my cryptocurrency trading from Upbit and I almost lost 50% of my investment.
I am not really good at this kind of game, but what I found interesting was that I can contact with the person in charge directly.
For me, Cryptocurrency trading is like exciting gambling, and I am not into it completely, but I figured that I might understand why that much money goes into the market.
Some coins are developed for decentralization of monetary from government controls, others are made for technical reasons, and even some are built for donation.
By researching so many alt-coins, people may want to invest their money to those coins' futures.
But...
Okay, that was good reasons... But...
I am honestly worried about all the high-risk-high-return process.
If it is a currency, Okay, let's say Bitcoin.
If the Bitcoin works as currency, how can people put their money into it when the value of the coin increases or decreases by more than 20% a day.
Yesterday, I might be able to buy 30,000 cans of Coke at a market; but today, the Bitcoin price went up and I can buy 40,000 cans of Coke.