During this 2023 bullrun, it’s once again young Asians buying crypto who are the driving force

According to recent research, the fact that a Bitcoin ETF is likely to be approved soon is one of the biggest reasons why Wall Street is joining the crypto bull run of 2023 (with a 150% gain for Bitcoin this year, you can safely call it a bull run by now).

Regular investors though seem to be mainly located in Asia. The smaller purchases of Bitcoin, Ether and all other cryptocurrencies this year came mostly from that region. That is remarkable as crypto trading is still officially banned in China.

Here's a PRO tip: Keep an eye on Asia.

Crypto is booming in Asia and narratives will be formed during the bull market.

Don't get stuck on the West! Don't fade Asia.

— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) December 13, 2023

Japan, South Korea and Singapore are the largest markets at the moment. India, with more than a billion potential customers, is still growing, but still lags behind South Korea and Japan.

Loom

Back in October, a small cryptocurrency called Loom made the headlines of just about every crypto site when it soared 700% in just a few weeks. A remarkable fact was that almost half of all trading took place against the Korean won, and that is not the first time.

Meanwhile, the main currency that retail investors use to trade crypto tokens has become the Korean Won instead of the US Dollar or the Euro as you might expect.

According to recent data, the won represents 41 percent of the market at the busiest times, compared to 24 percent in September. In the same period, the market share of the US dollar has fallen from 51 percent to just under 40 percent, while the American market is also growing. Asians are gearing up for an incredible crypto bull run in 2024 it seems.

“The fact that bitcoin broke through resistance in the Asian hours is a testament to how important retail volumes in that region, namely South Korea, are becoming,” said Michael Safai, chief executive at trading firm Dexterity Capital. 

“Institutional grabs headlines, but retail flow is the lifeblood of the crypto markets,” he added.

2017-2018

Asia has always been more accessible to crypto than the EU or the United States. This probably has to do with the wide variety of fiat currencies in the region.

During one of the previous bull runs for Bitcoin, the famous winter of 2017-2018, things got so out of hand in South Korea and Japan that the respective governments had to issue official warnings.

Many young people had invested part of their savings in digital coins and politicians were afraid of a crash. Bitcoin was trading around $20,000 for the first time ever at that time and the crash also came the following year, but since Bitcoin reached its all-time high of $69,000 a few years later (in 2021), many young people now feel betrayed by the politicians and are therefore buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies again.

Politicians don’t dare to criticize crypto trading this time round, since Bitcoin is now worth $40,000 again. Except in China, where it is officially banned, younger Asians are going crazy for digital currencies. Investing it has become a very popular hobby for many.

“Much of the regulatory crackdown we’ve seen this year has happened firmly in the US. Singapore, Japan, South Korea, they’re more hospitable to crypto,” said Ram Ahluwalia, CEO of investment adviser Lumida Wealth Management.