Money leaves cryptocurrency investments

Office worker Kim (aged 30) has recently retrieved 80 million won invested in virtual currency and had them transferred in an account with a securities firm. Earnings ratio, which exceeded 200% back in April, has shrunken to 40%. Though Kim had not suffered loss, he felt uneasy with the bear market and decided to withdraw investments. Last month, outflow of virtual currency investors exceeded investment inflows, the first time since July last year when investments on cryptocurrency began to take off in three years.

An analysis by the Dong-A Ilbo by accessing data at Rep. Kim Hee-gon of the People Power Party of real-name account holders of four leading cryptocurrency exchange services (Upbeat, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit) revealed that the withdrawn value last month totaled 12.7 trillion won, exceeding deposited value (10.7 trillion won).

June was the first month over the past year to see withdrawn funds exceeding deposited value. Back in April, when bitcoin prices exceeded 80 million won, deposited funds (33.1 trillion won) exceeded withdrawn value (29.2 trillion won).

A growing number of investors are leaving cryptocurrency as Bitcoin prices plunged under 30,000 U.S. dollars, the psychological threshold. “The reverse in trends indicate that there are more investors that have a negative mid-long-term views on crypto currency,” said Hwang Se-woon, a researcher at the Korea Capital Market Institute. “They are leaving investments as virtual currencies have failed to show noticeable value or performance despite overheated investment.”


zion37@donga.com