MondayToFridayCoin....2030 Who Became 'Coin Zombies'

Fluctuating Over Returns, Afraid of Missing Timing
Wide Awake Until Dawn

Suffering from 'Coinbyeong' Instead of 'Monday Blues'
Declining Work Performance and Aftereffects

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] "I can't take my eyes off it even for a moment. I barely slept and came to work."

Shin Daeyoung (37, pseudonym), a 10-year office worker, felt more tired than usual on his way to work on Monday the 24th. It’s not the typical ‘Monday blues’ that come from resting over the weekend and dreading Monday. Whether it’s a weekday or weekend, his hands are glued to his smartphone. It’s not because of work. He’s watching the cryptocurrency price board. Even after arriving at the office or returning home, he spends the entire day staring at the cryptocurrency price board, repeatedly buying and selling. In the past, he was exhausted from watching overseas sports live until dawn, but now he is suffering from ‘coin disease’ caused by cryptocurrency investment.

Shin has invested about 200 million won in cryptocurrency. Until recently, he enjoyed sweet dreams of earning daily profits in the tens of millions of won, but that was short-lived as he has already suffered losses exceeding 70 million won. Recently, as regulatory moves on cryptocurrency have become concrete in China and the United States, he has fallen into fear and anxiety that he might lose even more money. Shin cannot take his eyes off his phone screen while awake.

Among the 20s and 30s generation, so-called ‘coin zombies’ addicted to cryptocurrency exchange price boards are being produced. To prepare for price fluctuations, many keep exchange app notifications on, causing alarms to ring frequently during work hours. Whether at work or outside, they constantly check the price board whenever they get a chance, contemplating buying and selling. This is due to the characteristics of the cryptocurrency market, which has no price limits and operates 24 hours a day. Unlike the stock market, it has ruthless volatility, and since there are no upper or lower price limits, prices can surge and crash repeatedly within a single day.

On the 27th, as the KOSPI index showed mixed trends in the early session, a coin news appeared on a dealer's work monitor at the Hana Bank dealing room in Euljiro, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Among remote workers, purchasing additional monitors is common. One monitor is dedicated to work, while the other one or two are used to display stock and cryptocurrency trading windows, combining work and investment. Since most cryptocurrency investors are ultra-short-term traders operating by the second or day, it is difficult to balance with work.

An executive at a large corporation said, "Since we are not government officials or public institutions, private companies have no means to block or discourage this," adding, "We worry about work efficiency, but also about the aftereffects of excessive immersion and addiction." Office worker Jeon Ji-young (29) said, "Cryptocurrency trading runs 24 hours a day, so you never know when it will suddenly crash or rebound," and added, "Recently, there was a continuous drop, so I was aiming to sell, but a brief rebound caused me to miss the timing. Since then, I’ve been staring at the price board nonstop."

Although warnings about cryptocurrency are growing louder, the 20s and 30s generation aiming for quick riches have become the mainstream of the cryptocurrency market. According to a survey conducted by the job platform ‘Saramin’ targeting 1,855 office workers, 40.4% of respondents reported investing in cryptocurrency. That’s about 4 out of 10 people, with 30-somethings making up the largest portion at 49.8%, followed by 20-somethings at 37.1%.

The same trend is seen in data received by People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Eun-hee from the Financial Services Commission regarding the four major domestic cryptocurrency exchanges. This year, a total of 2,495,289 users opened new real-name accounts, of which 816,039 (32.70%) were in their 20s and 768,775 (30.80%) were in their 30s, accounting for 63.51% of the total. However, since many coins have already peaked or are rising but with slowing momentum, making large profits is not easy. In fact, more than half of investors, 52.5%, recorded losses, with the average loss per person reaching 4.12 million won.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.