Bitcoin Forum

I am 19 years old Korean. I am little sad because of people's mind here. I think Korea is an advanced country and I think Korea has a higher perception of cryptocurrency than other countries. However, I think Korea is investing(I think almost speculating) more in altcoins (Dogecoin, Ripple, EOS, Quantum, Solana, etc) than Bitcoin.  Their investment is around $50,000 (average Korean adult income per year). I don't understand why they spend all their investments on trashy altcoins with the money they can get from saving a year without spending a penny. $50,000 is money that adult men have to save for over 10 years in most countries except developed countries. If Korea focuses more on bitcoin investment, I think there will be a lot of new rich people in 10 years. What do you think? Koreans don't buy bitcoin, thinking there's no difference between bitcoin and altcoins.

Ten years later, right? most of the current generations can't wait so that long because they're FOMO and want to achieve financial freedom before 30 years old, that's why they take risk to gamble their money in shitcoins.

Also not all people want to learn about Bitcoin, if they're still hold their coins in CEX and prefer to stake their coins rather than hold in their non custodial wallet, what we can expect from them?

bitcoin plays the long run (retirement) where people hold for 4-#0years
altcoins are the pump and dump, where people hold for 1day-1 year

PoW mined coins are more of the long run if the coin has real world utility
PoS minted coins is the pump and dump short term plays

They are investing in altcoins based on the perception for them. Bitcoin is good but not everyone will invest in it and use it. And if anyone invest in altcoins and do not invest in Bitcoin there means they don't understand the value of Bitcoin. And as you said Korea is one of the country that have the highest awareness in Bitcoin and they invest in dogecoin and other coins more than Bitcoin then they don't understand Bitcoin and they are the people promoting dogecoin and others. And really $50,000 is very big amount of money that some civil servants will not see through out their service years. There is a very big different among them. Even between or among the altcoins there is is a different. Like the ones you mentioned, dogecoin is more valuable than the other.

I tend to agree with franky1's said.
Bitcoin is for those who want a long-term investment like a retirement plan and those who want to make a quick profit for a short time but it's involves risk, investing in altcoins might their choice.

Correct me if I'm wrong because ain't Korean, in South Korea, gambling was strictly probihited right?
So I'm thinking about how people in Korea decide their money to take a risk and it seems like gambling.  Invest in altcoins and hope to gain a profit in just a few weeks or months, they might be aware of the pump-and-dump tactics and how they will ride on it.  If you have a lot of money you know how to play with it.

But who knows, there are also Bitcoin holders in your country that you didn't know since this thread is a baseless story.

I think that, above all, one should respect other people's decisions to invest their money in what they want, as long as such investments are not illegal and do not contribute to endangering other people. If some people (and even the majority) think that investing in something other than Bitcoin is more profitable for them (and that is the main reason for their investment), I don't see why they would be seen as someone who is doing the wrong thing.

Theoretically, if you invest in BTC, it is realistic to expect that you will earn x5 or in the best case x10 in the next 2-5 years, and some altcoin can result in much more than that in the same period. Of course, there is always a risk that things will go downhill, whether it is Bitcoin or even more so with altcoins. People simply like to gamble in a way that they invest a little and get a lot, and that is exactly what the owners of these altcoins promise them.


Is that your opinion or is there any research to back it up? It's kind of hard for me to believe that most people don't know the difference, but I guess there is some truth in that, because a lot of people have a very wrong perception of what Bitcoin is.

It's not that I'm an expert on South Korea, but I watched a documentary a few years ago and it seems to me that it's the only country where, in addition to knowledge, young people must also have a certain physical predisposition to get a job, which means that many go for medical procedures to look more acceptable to the employer.

First of all, you are just 19 years of age and you are questioning their way of investment. We don't know exactly what the reason why they prefer to invest in altcoins and there is a reason behind that. Investing in Bitcoin is safest way to invest but the profit potential is a little bit lower compare to altcoins. Altcoins is a risky type of investment because of their volatility but the potential gain is so high and that's what I think why people in your Country prefer altcoins. By the way, if you do a screening, doing a deep research about a coin, investing in them really worth it.

Well, I guess in the end, we all are always entitled to what we individually believe in, if investors in Korea are not interested in investing in bitcoin, it's probably because they feel that bitcoin have become "maybe" too expensive, and they feel that some of this altcoin can still perform "maybe" even much more better than bitcoin.
And like what Franky1 said, which I believe to be true, there are several altcoins that do x1000 and even more in a day, something impossible for bitcoin at this stage, but the truth remains that, investing in bitcoin pays better in the long run, for most of this altcoins will die before or after  the next circle.

Unfortunately, some people are investors, and some people are just gamblers — it's not just in Korea, but literally everywhere. What's funny in this case is most of the altcoin buyers think they're actually investors, but they don't know what they're doing at all.

I'm curious to know what your "guess" is based on because you are too specific about the altcoins and the amount of investment! Generally speaking it is hard to know these things unless you run a centralized exchange that people visit so that you can have a solid statistics and CEXes don't release such statistic for the public to know these things.

In any case, another possibility (assuming your stats are correct) is that you are looking at "traders" not "investors". When it comes to trading, altcoins are better than bitcoin although not the altcoins you listed here but altcoins that are getting pumped in that particular day so that you can buy them during the pump and sell them before their dump begins to make a decent profit in a short time.
Of course a lot of people trade using their bitcoins (not fiat) so that they can make profit on the amount of bitcoin they have. So your concern about people not having bitcoin is not correct in this scenario even though they are seemingly trading altcoins only.

From where did you get the data that Koreans are investing more in altcoins rather than Bitcoin? Did any exchange published it? Have you read an article somewhere? I would like to have a look.

I am not sure about Korean weather they like gambling or not. If as a community Koreans like gambling, they would invest in altcoins. Otherwise I don't see any other sane reason here for not investing in Bitcoin.

Maybe that's just his assumption, while he doesn't know the actual data why say so most South Koreans are more altcoins than bitcoins, so I'm not entirely sure what the OP said.

Actually it is up to each individual whether they want to invest in altcoins which we consider as gambling or bitcoin, everyone has a different view including looking at the crypto market, maybe some think this is gambling so they invest in altcoins and expect quick profits in a short time, because altcoins are pump and dump.

Korea is no different than many counties around the world in this regard. In Japan they absolutely LOVE Monacoin (a worthless shitcoin). 

Your story here is the same in the U.S. As a financial advisor I often get asked about bitcoin and even to this day when I ask what coins these people hold, it’s normally like 50% Bitcoin, and the rest pure utter shit I’ve often not even heard of.

Also, bitcoin is inherently not an investment. It’s so much more with the utility it provides. 99% of alts offer zero utility that hasn’t already been created or done.

When I read the post, I was wondering how representative it is. Is it just the op's personal experience and understanding of the situation based on observations, or does it reflect the South Korean market overall? To that end, I found an interesting article (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-15/korean-crypto-trading-enthusiasts-are-at-the-forefront-of-the-recent-rally) that describes the Korean crypto market. It's clear that it's likely to be one of the biggest markets globally, and the article does mention a particular interest of South Koreans in altcoins.
I do agree with the sentiment that it's better to buy BTC than altcoins. It's just less risky and can pay off significantly in the long run, especially considering the investment amount that the op is mentioning because it can buy a whole Bitcoin and then some.

You should discuss this matter with your local board if there is any because in this way they will understand it better. And there are facts behind the choice of most people in alts and leaving BTC in the first place. The first reason is BTC might not give them 4x, 5x, 10x, 1000x, or any x that investors are hoping for. BTC is a safe place with lower profit but alts are risky places with more profit. So I guess Koreans, must be aware of the risks involved and they must be prepared to face outcomes also.
I don't know how much money a Korean can make by how many hours a day and for how many years, but if $50k is an average adult income per year then it is a good one, those who are investing such big investments must have backup funds and if they don't then they are being optimistic about the market and its bullish trend.

The blame is on market sentiments, currently, no wonder what coin you choose from the 200 100, or even 500 list, it will give you profit because the market is going up but blind investment will cause loss also so, choosing one coin from the list, should be done by at least with basic analysis like fundamental.

You just gave us a glimpse of the answer to your doubts on your comment, if the citizens of your country are not buying as much bitcoin despite the potential it has to grow during the next decade then this tell us they are not really thinking about the next decade, what they want is to obtain profits as soon as they can, and in order to reach that goal altcoins seem to them as the best option, and some of those people will in fact realize their goals, but I expect the majority of them to fail and I think they would have obtained better results by taking a long term approach and invest in bitcoin.

I'm not too shocked by OP simply because it has become a norm for people to patronize altcoins rather than buying Bitcoin because of the perception that it would only take a large investment like those of Microstrategy, or the way Nayib did for El Salvador. There's only so much x price increase that Bitcoin can do right now compared to altcoins that offered more upward potential even though the risks increases exponentially with altcoins. For instance,  ORDI's price increased vs Bitcoin's.

Go hard or go home kind of situation. It would be a lot better if they had a small bag of BTC at the very least just in case.

I can only speculate as to why the reason why South Korea is more into altcoins, perhaps it was due to the negative connotations about BTC? Or maybe the population think that altcoin is a get rich quick scheme that's why they are willing to take that risk into it. As compare to Bitcoin, wherein it's a long term investment and it's not like the magic internet money that others might have perceived, including Koreans.

However, if you are part of those majority, then so be it. Just continue with your BTC investment, nothing is going to question you with that. And if you become a crypto millionaire in the next bull run or just save enough then that is your reward for going against the norm in your country as far as crypto investments goes.

Well, the thing here is just mind your own business and don't mind the others if they're investing into something else.

I know that it can be personal and you just want to help these people out with all of their decisions but nothing is going to change this time. And that's because you can't stop them from investing into altcoins.

If they don't like Bitcoin then let them do their thing alone as they invest their hard earned money on it. And what you can do now is to focus on investing in Bitcoin.

that is the good thing in this market. you can mind your own business and as the market sits, it is borderless. so no matter where you are on this earth, you are free to choose what you want to do when it comes to crypto.
also, the OP didn't mention if he is in south or north? you can't blame some people to have different approach when you say you are in the north. the first thing that we usually associate them is kim jong-un.  ;D

Although he's not korean but I once talked to someone who thinks it's already too late to get into bitcoin  ;) -- back when I used to go to anon communities lol

Perhaps a lot of them could've thought that way as well? they think bitcoin has peaked so they move to what they think is the next big boom but end up getting burned. There is definitely misinformation coming into play. I wouldn't be surprised if loads of them just wanted to get into the hype train and pulled the trigger.

Maybe Korean people know crypto 1st in the ICO era?, Altcoins do have more massive marketing than bitcoin, and some altcoin developers even have built their start-ups in Korea, which why altcoins is are more popular than bitcoin. I have a cousin in the same situation with them. My cousin just knew crypto when meme coin grew a couple of years ago. What he invested today is a meme and a similar coin. He doesn't buy Bitcoin because he doesn't know it. In this case, we can't blame them if they invest in it, because altcoin has a good strategy to dominate the market and influence beginners to invest in it.

Of course common sense he is in South Korea. Anyway,  you are right, even though he has a concern about his fellow Koreans investing more in altcoins, he can't stop them as they have the freedom to choose where to invest. Also, does the OP have proof that most investors in Korea spend in altcoins? I'm sure they also invest in bitcoin, as it is the most profitable coin of all. Yes, it's a bit too late, as the price of one bitcoin is too much, but you can still earn with Satoshi alone; it's still not too late. And if it's really true that most Koreans are investing in altcoins, maybe because they are scared and wary of the risk of investing in bitcoin. They think that it's too late to invest in bitcoin, which is not. There are a lot of opportunities in bitcoin. If they can't take the long-term investment in bitcoin through holding, then try trading. Bitcoin has a high volatility, so I'm sure that there are a lot of openings to earn.

1.What do you mean by "Korea is investing"? Do you mean that the Korean government is investing in crypto or you mean that the people and companies in Korea are investing in crypto?
2.Do you have any real evidence to backup your claims? Any link to the source of information? I don't know where did you get this 50K USD amount. Why would anyone invest money in a memecoin like dogecoin and a centralized shitcoin like ripple?
AFAIK, South Korea and Japan were the most crypto friendly countries in the world 5 years ago, but the governments imposed heavy regulations over the crypto exchanges, which kinda stopped the crypto industry in both countries.

Yes, there's no need to intervene with other affairs as long as you're doing well then that's good. You don't have to get worried with the situation of the others unless they're your friends, relatives or you know them personally.

But other than that, there's really no obligation for you to get into other's business. Just do well and make the best out of your shape on this market and that's it.

Most likely South Korea.

To be honest, when I was new to cryptocurrency at first I also thought this (there is no difference between bitcoin and altcoin), But as time goes by, the more my insight increases, the difference becomes clearer. This is why I think education about cryptocurrencies is very important, so that people can differentiate between Bitcoin and altcoins and which technologies are used. Bitcoin will continue to be of interest to many people in the future as their investment and this will push the price of Bitcoin to its highest level.

I read that "Knowledge crowns with power and riches;" some of the most powerful people are very knowledgeable, and likewise, some rich people too possess a very great knowledge to build wealth.

If crypto enthusiasts in Korea are more into altcoin, that's because they probably believe that it's altcoin that is better than Bitcoin (there's just some misconception there).

Even in my country here, there is a kind of odd mentality in some people. Some crypto enthusiasts feel that Bitcoin is too expensive, and they cannot even buy one piece of it for a huge amount of money. Meanwhile, they can buy billions, if not trillions, of pieces of a particular coin with just some amount of money from their whole capital. With such an idea in their heads, they will rather split their total capital and invest it in different altcoins, and lastly, they will conclude by saying that "one of those coins will make them very rich."

Before making an investment, I think one thing to consider is the safety of your asset and the longevity of the project you are investing in. Also, consider the risk level of your investment.

At some point, some people started off with altcoin, and that is why they are so bent on altcoin rather than bitcoin, but to help such people is to illuminate them with the new idea, which is bitcoin.

First of all, the OP needs to clarify the subject matter - some Korean investors, don't make regional comparisons.

I can understand why some parts of the current generation prefer venture capital to working in traditional jobs. Korea has been in a state of economic development for a long time, so diversifying investments is important. It is easy to understand that in the crypto market, there are also many large investment funds participating in the market. As for personal investment behavior, the OP should evaluate it more broadly because no matter where they are, people can choose, and there are many decentralized things in the crypto market that also correspond to knowledge and understanding capabilities that investors can access.