The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit announced on Sept. 26 that the aggregate value of the domestic cryptocurrency market dropped 58 percent to 23 trillion won in the first half of this year, when the number of cryptocurrencies in the market increased from 1,257 to 1,371.
According to the unit, the average daily trading value more than halved from 11.3 trillion won to 5.3 trillion won in the first half. “The total won deposit as an investment demand indicator decreased from 7.6 trillion won to 5.9 trillion won and the operating profit of domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and related companies plummeted from more than 1.64 trillion won to 0.63 trillion won,” it said.
The aggregate market value hit an all-time high in November last year and then kept falling until the end of June this year. The value fell below 40 trillion won with the Terra scandal in May and dipped below 30 trillion won with the bankruptcy of Celsius in June.
In the first half of this year, the number of cryptocurrency exchange users increased 24 percent to 6.9 million. “More than 20 percent of the users are males in their 30s and those in their 30s and 40s account for 31 percent and 26 percent of the total,” it said, adding that 68 percent of the customers are males.
