[Photo by Han Joo-hyung]
South Korea is largely behind the surge in trade and prices of minor alternative or clones of Bitcoin, putting investors vulnerable to their volatility amid zero protection from authorities.
Four major exchanges in Korea – Bithumb, Upbit, Korbit, and CoinOne – were behind 19.3 percent of Dogecoin whose turnover in 24-hour trading reached 29.3 trillion won ($26.3 billion) as of noon Wednesday, Maeil Business Newspaper found upon analysis on crypto trade data at market tracker CoinMarketCap and the country’s top four exchanges. The dog badge coin’s value jumped 541 percent in a month.
Korean markets also propelled activity in minor digital coins called altcoins.
Korean exchanges contributed 41.7 percent of 3.4 trillion won worth trade volume of VeChain coin that delivered 187 percent in monthly profit margin. For Qtum, Korean share in its trade was 39.6 percent and for Ripple 21 percent.
Korean market made up a mere 1.8 percent in the trade for Bitcoin, the pioneering and iconic digital coin. Trade share in another established crypto name Ethereum also stopped at 1.3 percent.
The hype of coins of Korean origin is equally hot.
The 24-hour trading volume of MediBloc recorded 490 billion won, and that of Paycoin amounted 49.4 billion won, as of 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Market watchers have become increasingly wary of the explosive growth in minor coin trading amid sharp fluctuation in prices. Many of the altcoins do not have their technology verified yet and are entirely without any protection from authorities.
Dogecoin has continued strong rally since it joined Upit exchange in late February at 65 won. Upon peaking at 575 won on Monday, it has lost nearly 30 percent to 411 won.
By Lee Sae-ha, Cha Chang-hee, Hahn Sang-hun and Cho Jeehyun
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]