Author: Declan Kim
Key Points
After the cryptocurrency market heated up in 2024, approximately 33% of new investors entered the South Korean cryptocurrency market. Among them, investors who have invested for less than half a year were mainly influenced by the news of Trump's election, while those who invested between half a year to a year were primarily attracted by the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF.
The market is full of anticipation for the potential U.S. government classification of Bitcoin as a strategic asset and the crypto-friendly policies that might be introduced by the Trump administration. In 2025, Bitcoin is viewed as the most anticipated cryptocurrency asset.
Despite South Korean investors being unfamiliar with decentralized exchanges, the investment proportion of meme coins has already exceeded half. This is largely due to centralized exchanges actively listing such coins. As of February 2025, Bithumb has listed 16 meme coins, including $DOGE, $TRUMP, $PENGU, etc., which is more proactive compared to Upbit's 6 coins.
About 75% of cryptocurrency investors in South Korea have an optimistic view of Bitcoin's price in 2025, generally expecting it to exceed 150 million Korean won.
