Two-thirds of Koreans want to invest more in crypto as won-based stablecoin hype builds: Survey

South Korean crypto investors of all ages are planning to increase their crypto holdings as the country’s newly elected President promises to foster won-based stablecoin adoption, boosting the country’s stock market to become the best-performing in the region. 

A recent survey of 1,000 South Koreans aged 20-59, conducted by the Hana Financial Research Institute, found that 27% of respondents already own digital assets, yet 70% of respondents (and 86% of current holders) plan to buy more crypto in the next year. 

Though crypto is typically associated with younger investors, the survey found the largest ownership share among investors in their 40s, at 31% of all current crypto holders. Korean men are about twice as likely as Korean women to hold digital assets today, with the gap persisting across age bands. 

While younger investors said they were primarily interested in high-risk, high-reward trading, over half of investors in their 50s, on the other hand, said planning for retirement was the primary driver for their crypto adoption. Two-thirds of respondents said their primary concern was market volatility, and although half of respondents admitted to holding funds on exchange hot wallets, only one-third of respondents were concerned with security risks. 

Stablecoin stocks surge

The increasing adoption of digital assets in the country coincides with a surge in retail investor interest in companies that are angling to issue won-based stablecoins, following a pledge to legalize such assets from recently elected President Lee Jae Myung, who took office near the start of June. The initiative “is expected to yield several economic benefits such as reducing trade costs, diversifying foreign exchange risks, and increasing global investment into the local economy,” lawmaker Min Byeong-deok, Lee’s head of digital assets during the campaign, recently told The Block. 

A parliamentary bill proposed by the ruling party this month mirrors the GENIUS Act currently making its way through the U.S. government in that it would allow companies to issue their own stablecoins. In Korea, companies with as little as 500 million KRW equity capital (or around $367,000 USD) would be allowed to issue won-based stablecoins. Under the GENIUS Act, no such minimum exists, but issuers with a market cap of over $10 billion would be subject to more stringent regulatory oversight. 

South Korea’s KOSPI Composite stock market index is currently near its four-year high, making South Korea the best-performing market in Asia so far in 2025, partly thanks to a rally around stocks that have been involved with the Bank of Korea’s digital assets project, according to a recent FT report. 

Koreans’ interest in stablecoins has also spread beyond its borders; Bloomberg recently reported that following its IPO, Circle has become the top overseas stock for South Korean investors, who have collectively poured $443 million into the USDC stablecoin issuer. The stock of KakaoPay Corp, expected to benefit from friendly crypto regulation in the country, has increased by 134% over the past month, according to Yahoo Finance data. 

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