South Korean crypto exchange volumes surge, led by DOGE and XRP

South Korea's cryptocurrency market has seen a recent surge in trading activity, with huge trading volumes and widespread participation in the country's cryptocurrency market, allowing the Korean won (KRW) trading volume to surpass the US dollar in the first quarter of 2024. South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, accounts for more than 70% of the country's trading volume. The country's cryptocurrency trading volume has seen a sharp increase again recently. On Upbit, trading volume has increased by more than 100% in the past seven days, with DOGE and XRP being the biggest contributors, with XLM and SAND also playing a role. In the fourth quarter, DOGE and XRP had trading volumes of $58.2 billion and $38.6 billion, respectively, far higher than Bitcoin's $30.1 billion trading volume. In addition, as of November 25, the SAND/KRW trading pair on Upbit had a 24-hour trading volume of $1.6 billion, accounting for 13% of the exchange's total trading volume of $11.9 billion. On Bithumb, XRP dominated with $433.9 million in trading volume, accounting for 14% of total trading volume. A Q4 report from Tiger Research shows that about 15% of the South Korean population, a total of 7.78 million people, actively trade on Korean exchanges. Historically, young Koreans have been keen to invest in cryptocurrencies, seeing them as a sustainable way to accumulate wealth in a country with high unemployment rates. A survey by Samarin HR, a South Korean recruitment portal, showed that 49.8% of South Korean workers aged 30 to 39 have invested in cryptocurrencies, and 37.1% of workers in their 20s have followed suit. (Bitcoin.com)