Yeah, especially, you know, Hash started from a Korean market. So maybe I can explain Korean market first, then maybe Asia and US market. Yeah, so Hash has an office in San Francisco, Korea, Singapore, and Bangalore. So we are kind of positioning as a bridge between the US market, Asian market, and some of the rest of the world. And actually, the Korean market is quite special because the bull market in 2017 was led by Korean retail. If you see the UPbit still, the Fiat crypto trading volume was... See, market is number one. I think the end of last year, the volume surpassed the USD crypto trading volume. It's huge. It's actually even bigger than the Korean stock market. Right, it's the crypto market. I think the Korean government, you know, back to 2018, they supposed to ban crypto exchange, but out of a sudden, no few of the top... No politicians, no, just no keep the crypto exchange run. The business MH and now it's like, you know, total population of Korea is like 50 million, but up with the registered users are 15 million, you 15... 1555. Wow, that's a lot. And if you think about, like, a labor population is like 25, then out of 25, it's like 60% of the labor users are like trading crypto, yeah.
And I heard like at certain points, it was U almost like video games, right? Cause there's like those grid trading bots and there's like people instead of playing Starcraft in land cafes, they were like trading crypto and just like going crazy, right? Yeah, yeah. And whenever I asked to Binance, OKEx, and all the dri to volume like, uh, 20% is from China, but 15% is from Korea. So always like B-Max, B-Yo, OKB, Binance, at least 20% are... Yeah, covered by Koreans. And do you see similarities between the Western audience and the Korean audience because you're such an international firm? Is it very similar or do you think it's more a little bit isolated in terms of thought or thought processes?
So basically, it's to a point where the politicians originally intended to ban crypto, but it's got to a point where the people stood up and said, 'Nah, it's okay, don't do that.' Yeah, even taxes, zero kepal gains taxes, zero supposed to last until the end of this year, but now it's, like, the government's discussing about, like, delaying that station to maybe one to two years later. So about, like, election and the politics and everything is very connected each other, interesting, it's very crypto-politically, and with the people. Now the next question is what Koreans tend to like and invest, and are the trends? Do you see similarities in the trends? Like, do they like gaming, do you like memes, or do they even like the same memes that resonate within the same with in Korea, yeah C also like a retail community is quite active, if you go into Telegram, Discord, they're pretty actively, uh, communicating with each other, I think definitely air-drop, they're very sensitive to air-drop, air-drop, okay, yeah, so whenever there's an air-drop they all, like, you know, sharing the information each other, and they go together to a certain project. So I think Korea is a very. I'm not sure you've heard about like Korean people usually don't like their friends making money, their friends becoming rich, right, right, right, that means like they're very sensitive, whenever you have like arpa information, then they're always like sharing, that's why, like, you know the trading problem is up in is super high.
And already, the market is quite mature so once they lift, I think the market cap should be high, but always we are looking for the new sector, new narrative. So because, as infrastructure evolve more like throughput will be improved and speed, and also user experience will be improved. So at the end, if you look back to web 2, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, they're all like consumer-facing and once they lock the... the user in their ecosystem they can become super powerful but currently, like all the infrastructure is... like a temporary phase, but at the end, I think the massive consumer-facing app will dominate the market, we are always looking for that kind, that type of projects. Kind of the massive one, the mega app, for crypto.
Q: What insights are provided into the Korean market and its impact on Asia and the US?
A: The provided insights include the special characteristics of the Korean market, its role as a bridge between the US and Asian markets, and the significant trading volume in the crypto market.
Q: How do gamers influence and impact trends in the Korean crypto market?
A: Gamers have been influential in the Korean crypto market, with a significant percentage of trading volume coming from Korea. The trading activity in Korea has shown similarities to the Western audience.
Q: How is K-pop and Anime integrated into the cryptocurrency space?
A: K-pop and Anime have played a role in shaping the cryptocurrency space in Korea. The involvement of the people in standing up against potential bans and discussions on tax regulations showcases the connection between crypto, politics, and the community's interests.
Q: What are the investment trends in DeFi, gaming, and infrastructure in Korea?
A: The market in Korea is considered mature, with a focus on new sectors and narratives. Infrastructure advancements are expected to enhance speed and user experience. The search for consumer-facing apps and mega projects remains a priority for investors in the crypto space.
