The number of cryptocurrency investors in South Korea has exceeded 15 million for the first time, and the average daily trading volume of the five major local exchanges is close to 15 trillion won, comparable to the stock market

After the U.S. presidential election, the number of cryptocurrency investors in South Korea has exploded, with more than 30% of the population (about 51.23 million people) investing in cryptocurrencies. This is the first time that the Bank of Korea has released statistics on cryptocurrencies. The data is collected from business operators in accordance with the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which came into effect in July last year. According to data submitted by the Bank of Korea to Democratic Party Representative Lim Kwang-hyun (sound), a member of the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee, on the 25th, the number of domestic cryptocurrency investors in South Korea was 15.59 million as of the end of November 2019, an increase of 610,000 from the end of October. This is the number of investors who have accounts in the five major domestic exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, Gopax), which is the sum of the cases where the same person has accounts in multiple exchanges. The number of domestic cryptocurrency investors increases by about 100,000 per month. As of the end of November, the total amount of cryptocurrency held by domestic investors reached 102.6 trillion won based on market valuations, and the amount held per person surged to 6.58 million won. As of the end of November, the amount of funds held in exchanges that are not invested in cryptocurrencies was calculated to be 8.8 trillion won. The trading volume has also increased significantly. The average daily trading volume of domestic cryptocurrency exchanges reached 14.9 trillion won in November. This is equivalent to the total size of the KOSPI market (9.9214 trillion won) and the KOSDAQ market (6.9703 trillion won) in the same month. (Yonhap News Agency)