South Korean Crypto Grannies and Grandpas Shoot for the Moon

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 2 min read

Is crypto exclusively a young person’s game? Not in South Korea, it seems, where – in addition to crypto moms, some of whom are not afraid to ask their children for trading tips, crypto grannies and grandpas are starting to get involved in the bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin markets.

Source: Adobe/Qwenergy

South Korea Crypto Fever 2.0 seems to be in full swing, and a glut of demographic data for the period January to March 2021 from the four biggest crypto trading platforms in the country provides some interesting reading. The statistics, reported in detail by the Segye Ilbo, reveals that six in 10 new crypto exchange customers are aged 20-39, with 33% of new investors aged 20-29.

However, the figures also revealed that almost 6,000 new investors in the same period were aged 70 and above. And these new crypto pensioners appear pretty active on the markets: They carried out a total of 773,179 transactions in the first three months of the year.

In total, there are 13,054 South Korean customers of Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit and Coinone who are aged 70 and over – and they conducted almost 2.7m crypto transactions in January-March this year. Although their number is dwarfed by the quantity of twenty- and thirtysomethings in the market, it appears that when it comes to crypto, one can never be too old – at least not in South Korea.

Cryptonews.com reached out to a few South Korean septuagenarians to gauge the mood. Here’s what they had to say about their fellow, newly crypto-keen pensioners.

Jo Do-heon, 75, a former architect and business owner and a Seoul resident, expressed incredulity, saying:

“I don’t believe that many people aged 70+ are trading bitcoin and whatnot. These statistics must be wrong. The older people get, the more risk-averse they become. It’s a highly volatile market, and most people my age prefer stability.”

Jeon Kyung-ja, a 70-year-old homemaker in Suwon, said that crypto apps may have become a playground for the wealthy, stating:

“Most people my age don’t have the money to spend on crypto investments. I’d like to, too. I’d gladly invest in bitcoin if I had the spare capital. It’s mostly richer people with spare money to play with who make crypto investments at my age.”

Lee Kang-sook is also 70 and a Suwon resident, and a retired former mathematics teacher. He said,

“Ordinary folks my age lack the computer skills to be able to invest in bitcoin and other coins. We mostly wouldn’t know where to start. I can only assume that the people who are investing in [cryptoassets] in South Korea aged 70 and above are retired former civil servants with advanced technology skills or other people from that kind of sector.”

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Learn more:
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