Cumulative investment through recurring crypto purchase services at South Korea's major digital asset exchanges has approached 1 trillion won ($700 million). Demand for buying cryptocurrencies at fixed intervals has grown this year even as coin prices fell.
Cumulative investment through such services at Upbit, Coinone and Digital X stood at 972.92 billion won at the end of August, according to data that Rep. Park Sang-hyuk of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's National Policy Committee, obtained from the country's five largest crypto exchanges on the 12th. That is up 429.07 billion won from 543.85 billion won at the end of last year, a gain of 78.9%.
The exchanges let investors preset a coin, an amount and a purchase interval, after which the platform buys the asset automatically. Three of Korea's five largest exchanges — Upbit, Coinone and Digital X — offer the service. Investors commit a fixed sum at regular intervals regardless of price swings to manage their average purchase price.
The growth stands out given the market downturn. Bitcoin traded 5.3% below its level at the start of the year as of 9 a.m. on the 11th, according to crypto data site CoinMarketCap. Ether fell 15.7% over the same period. Users of recurring purchase services increased even as prices corrected.
The number of users also rose. Cumulative users across the three exchanges reached 337,119 at the end of August, up 91,808, or 37.4%, from the end of last year. "Market conditions were poor this year, but we appear to have seen steady demand from small investors looking to lower their average purchase price," an official at one exchange said.
By age, users in their 30s through 50s dominated. At Upbit, people in their 30s accounted for 30.4% of all users, the largest share, followed by those in their 40s at 27.1% and those in their 50s at 20.9%. At Digital X, users in their 50s made up the largest share at 30.7%, followed by those in their 40s at 30.1% and those in their 30s at 21.8%.
Upbit accounted for most of the market. Cumulative investment through its accumulation service totaled 897.71 billion won at the end of August, or 92.3% of the three exchanges combined. That is up 402.65 billion won, or 81.3%, from 495.06 billion won at the end of last year. Users rose by 72,291, or 32.2%, to 296,675 from 224,384 over the same period.
Coinone remains far smaller in absolute terms but posted the sharpest growth. Cumulative investment jumped 11.34 billion won, or 1,859%, to 11.95 billion won at the end of August from 610 million won at the end of last year. Users rose by 18,395, or 166.2%, to 29,462 from 11,067. Digital X reported cumulative investment of 63.26 billion won, up 31.3% from the end of last year, with users rising by 1,112, or 11.4%, to 10,982.
A different pattern emerged in staking, in which holders commit crypto assets to help operate blockchain networks in return for rewards. User numbers generally rose, but changes in investment diverged by exchange. Upbit's cumulative staking users totaled 365,121 at the end of August, up 61,953, or 20.4%, from the end of last year. Cumulative investment, however, fell 501.6 billion won, or 4.3%, to 11.2294 trillion won. At Digital X, users rose by 3,830, or 11.3%, to 37,659, while investment fell 27.8 billion won, or 14.1%, to 169.9 billion won.
Bithumb and Coinone saw gains in both users and cumulative investment. Bithumb's staking users rose by 7,793, or 2.1%, to 374,326, while cumulative investment climbed 257.2 billion won, or 24.0%, to 1.3292 trillion won. At Coinone, users rose by 34,850, or 11.4%, to 341,992, and cumulative investment rose 31 billion won, or 10.9%, to 316 billion won. Methods for tallying staking investment differ by exchange. Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone based their cumulative figures on fixed-term staking. Digital X, which offers only flexible staking, calculated its figure based on customer holdings.
