I'm afraid of the crypto craze in Korea.

[manul888]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

[mk4]

It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned.

Just like how it's been.. since forever?

We've been through such hype cycles in the past, and like it or not it will happen again some time in the future. Some people will make money by holding long-term, and some will get burned by buying the top and panicking when it goes down temporarily. It's unfortunate, but that's how the market works.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

Yeah well, that doesn't surprise me.  The rich are always going to have more capital to invest in things like bitcoin and they're the ones who reap the most benefit from doing so.  I don't think the poor have much use for bitcoin at all, despite what a lot of people have said over the years about it being able to help the unbanked--and that's not exclusive to Korea or any part of the world, either.

It also doesn't surprise me that bitcoin is booming in Korea, and I'm sure a lot of Koreans are over-investing in it just like people all around the world did in 2017.  That's just what happens when you've got an asset that keeps making new all-time highs.  It's a gamble, but I'm sure a lot of Koreans are going to come out ahead, rich or poor.

[avikz]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

Bitcoin was always a speculative asset! Since when did you see value investing in bitcoin market? Even if you have seen, that's a very minor percentage of the the crypto users. Bitcoin is flourishing around the world because people are able to make money out of it. If its price comes down to zero, no one would care about it anymore!

Also bitcoin never actually helped the disparity between the rich and poor. It had a chance to do so during its initial days but that's long gone! My suggestion is to think about yourself and get into the game to make your pocket a little more heavier!

[Gozie51]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned.

I'm not understanding your complaint you are making here. Are you like saying Korea has a different crypto market different from that we know and deal in? You can't talk about Korea as operating in a separate crypto market, we are all involved that why the nature of cryptocurrency is decentralized. Yes it is volatility and dangerous that you can get a lesser value for your investment at the long time. But you can explain better if you mean Korea having a different crypto market.

[Cling18]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

It simply means that Koreans see cryptocurrency as an opportunity to invest and gain a good profit but that doesn't mean that it would be a competition for rich and poor people. It's just that rich people have a bigger capital which is an advantage but that's how the crypto game works. The bigger the capital, the bigger the profit so you should just deal with it instead of stressing out yourself. It's actually a good thing that crypto is being recognized in most countries in Asia.

[prehisto]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

It seems that Korea is on the same path as any other country, stocks have been boming for a year now, huge waves of speculative investment in weed stocks and tech stocks. Now crypto currencies are going thru huge bullrun, it will all end sooner or later and then we will be in depressive bear market with seemingly no end in sight. I dont know how you are correlating financial classes with these bull runs since everyone can invest.

[(o)(o)ilikeboobs(o)(o)]

I have observed the Korean market and noticed that the crypto projects from this country have failed like BOSCOIN, ICON and many others. They only develop for a while and abandon the project, most of them do.
Their market was heavily exaggerated in 2017 and they went silent afterward.
Income tax on cryptocurrencies in this country is also too high.
I prefer the US and European markets because they have a slow and serious development with their projects. They tend to hold for longer than pump up and discharge like the Korean market. Look at Korean exchanges like Bithumb, Upbit ... the cryptocurrencies listed above these exchanges are pumped up to hundreds of percent.
Coinbase, Gemini, Coinlist, Kraken or Bifinex look very stable and clean.

[BrewMaster]

it is a common feeling that everyone has during bitcoin bull runs because the number of short term speculators and gamblers are increasing but what people usually forget is that the number of bitcoin users and long term believers is also increasing, in fact most of the times it is increasing more than the number of speculators. and many of the speculators also turn into bitcoin users after some time when they see the benefit in it.

[stompix]

Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

When and why did anybody hope bitcoin would make this gap smaller?
Bitcoin is money! How could money alone bridge this gap unless you force rich people to not buy bitcoin and give coins away only to the poor at which point you will realize the price will not get up since you've banned people with money to buy it!

Frustrating? Then learn to deal with it because bitcoin will only amplify this in the future, the ones that have money to buy now will be richer the ones that don't will keep being poor. If a bunch of code could have solved poverty we would have got ridden of it already, but it can't.

It had a chance to do so during its initial days but that's long gone!

I'm really curious was this wasted chance was and how you picture it working.

[Kakmakr]

You should have been around when the Asian exchanges faked trading volumes to attract traders to their platform. The Asian government had to close down some of these exchanges to stop this practice. I will not be too surprised if they are doing this again and if we will see a repeat of what happened in the past.

Also, remember... Crypto currencies are a high risk investment. Every balanced portfolio will have a small expose to high risk investments and it will only become scary when institutional investors start going "all in" on high risk investments like this. (Luckily these financial institutions are highly regulated and something like this will quickly be exposed.)  

[macson]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

not judging, it's just that on average the poor will immediately sell the Bitcoin they get for their life.  a gap is created when 2 people ^{(we say the poor and the rich)} have different mindsets.  Bitcoin is not created only for the rich but the rich will sell their Bitcoin when they make a profit, while the poor will sell their Bitcoin for life.  just ask yourself whether what I'm saying is wrong or right!

[LUCKMCFLY]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

You should not be afraid, today's world will always seek to have more influence on what they have with fiat value, it is impossible to stop the movement of Bitcoin and market capitalization, I know that many are Bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiasts, they may look for the technology and development but speculative value is what most see, in how to earn more.

But it is not bad, because this causes bitcoin to be adopted more and more, you may not see for now the history that bitcoin carries and the development it represents, which means the elimination of a debt and inflation system, by having a Significant value based on fiat money makes gold investors, stock market, among others enter, there is nothing wrong there.

[teosanru]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

Hasn't it always been this way? I mean at least in the rest of the world it has always been more speculative. No one expects his investments to give such big returns. if people would have been doing investments in Bitcoin. It would have a maximum price of $1000 and nothing more than that trust me. I don't know why people had some lame expectations from crypto to narrow the gap between rich and poor. How is that even possible? Even if it's crypto the human tendency doesn't change. It remains the same always no matter what. If we are actually looking towards Bitcoin as a Value? why don't you tell me what is the value? is the technology which is barely used as a currency now worth $60k per coin? It's the mix of speculation and investor emotion that has brought it this high.

[Fortify]

What is unique about Korea? The whole world is going crazy for cryptocurrency right now. I think a large part of the inflow is coming from the billions and trillions that the US government is printing (along with many other governments). It's almost unheard of for the government to be handing out checks with free money, but I think it has happened a couple times in the last year due to Covid. Bust does tend to follow boom however, but you can never tell when the bubble will burst. We might be near the start or near the end. It seems crazy that most of the world has been able to recover higher stock market levels, after a quick and deep recession, while many countries are still locked down. Basically, you shouldn't worry about what others are doing - many people are reckless and many people get lucky - just worry about sticking to your own financial plan for the future.

[Theb]

This have been mentioned in the past (2018) and recently since South Korea has more volume in their crypto exchanges now than their own stock market. For me even if you are worried there is really nothing left to do as it is always the decision of the buyer on which kind of asset they want to invest in, South Koreans have proven that they have a higher risk appetite as compared to other people and if they want to invest their capital to a faster moving asset then they should be accepting the risk as well. Any market really has its risks and if the crypto industry will affect their country's economy I believe that the government will step up with regulations just to somehow control the market.

[Ucy]

I guess by speculative you mean they buy and sell based on what they think the price will be worth in the future?
I think that kind of trading would be ok if people are buying to support a useful project and hope their investments become fruitful for everyone in the future as the project becomes valuable.  So, I hope they invest in very useful and safe crypto projects.
People who are skilled in trading could buy whenever there are major dips, and sell some if they need money for other important things. If traders buy in this manner, price will be kind of self-regulating and volatility will be somewhat moderate. And it's important that people trade with amount they can afford to risk.

[sunsilk]

There is no difference between Korea(South) to the other nations that are also into crypto. The market has always been speculative and you cannot change that fact.

Even if you are frustrated with what's happening, the gap cannot be changed until most people start being conservative in investments. But there were also bad news that happened there, like closing of Korean exchanges.

[Twentyonepaylots]

SK saw the opportunity, they took it. Nothing too bad happens really, as the things that you stated you are afraid of about crypto investment in South Korea exists in every othrt country in this planet, so I do not concern myself too much about that. Also, these people are savvy when it comes to investments, becoming one of the big countries when it comes to real estate and stock trading and investment, so what we may consider speculative is nothing short of normal to them.

[wxa7115]

I'm also a crypto industry worker, but these days, the Korean crypto market seems to be really too dangerous. It is becoming more speculative than investment, very concerned. Along with the frenzy of cryptos following real estate and stocks, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, and this seems to flow in the opposite direction to the value we hoped for through bitcoin, which is very frustrating.

Well it was to be expected, if anything bitcoin gave a 10 year head start to anyone that wanted to buy, and it was not until those 10 years passed in which the truly rich began to invest in it, so anyone that did not invested during that time have only themselves to blame.

But now that the ultra rich are discovering in this market a good investment for the short and long term then it is obvious the price is going to keep going up and the middle class will not be able to afford a full bitcoin anymore, so while it makes sense that you are concerned there is nothing you can do about it.