More than 10,000 South Koreans each hold cryptocurrencies worth over 1 billion won ($740,000), with their combined assets totaling 24 trillion won ($17.7 billion), according to government data released this week.
The figure highlights the rapid shift of wealthy investors toward digital assets, as Seoul is moving to tighten capital gains tax rules for major shareholders in stocks. Under the proposal, starting next year, anyone holding more than 1 billion won in equities would face a 20%–30% tax on disposal gains. Crypto assets, however, remain tax-free regardless of size.
The Financial Supervisory Service told Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the People Power Party that as of Aug. 5, some 10,810 investors across South Korea’s five major crypto exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax — owned over 1 billion won each. Their average holding was 2.23 billion won per person.
By age group, investors in their 50s were the…
