Odaily News Long before the global cryptocurrency boom pushed Bitcoin to an all-time high in early 2024, South Korean retail investors were pouring into local digital asset exchanges. According to the semi-annual report on crypto asset business released by the Korea Financial Intelligence Service (KOFIU), the number of active users on the country's registered exchanges increased by 390,000 to 6.45 million by the end of 2023. These users account for more than 10% of the country's total population, 99% of whom are identified as "individual" investors and nearly 60% of them are in their 30s and 40s. During this period, the country's average daily cryptocurrency trading volume increased by 24% to 3.6 trillion won ($2.6 billion), while the total value of cryptocurrencies held by registered exchanges soared by 53% to 43.6 trillion won. In addition, in the first quarter of 2024, the won surpassed the US dollar to become the world's largest fiat currency in terms of crypto asset trading volume. Upbit is the country's dominant exchange, which has sometimes ranked among the top five in the world by trading volume. (Bloomberg)