Ants "Avoid Dividend Taxation" Withdraw 3 Trillion Won... But Domestic Cryptocurrency Market Ignores

Expectations for Cryptocurrency Fund Inflow Fade as Cryptocurrency Prices Weaken
Bitcoin Declines Consecutively

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] On the day before the ex-dividend date, individual investors sold more than 3 trillion won in the stock market, but funds did not flow into the cryptocurrency market. On the contrary, cryptocurrency prices fell, and trading volume also decreased.

According to Upbit, a domestic cryptocurrency exchange, as of 1:19 PM on the 28th, Bitcoin recorded 59.66 million won, down about 3% from the previous day. While the domestic stock market was trading, it fell below the 60 million won mark again for the first time in five days since the 23rd. As of 9:40 AM on the same day, Bitcoin recorded 58.05 million won, down 0.38% from the previous day.

Trading volume is also sluggish. According to CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency market data site, the total trading volume of the four major domestic cryptocurrency exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit) on the 28th was about 5.8223 trillion won. This is less than half of the KOSPI trading volume of 12.097 trillion won on the same day. On the 16th of last month alone, Upbit's daily trading volume reached 18.7542 trillion won.

There was speculation that individual investors who withdrew from the stock market to avoid ex-dividend and taxation might flock to the cryptocurrency market, but reality was different. On the previous day, individual investors net sold 1.9613 trillion won in the KOSPI market and 1.129 trillion won in the KOSDAQ market to avoid stock price declines due to ex-dividend. The previous day was the last day for major shareholders to sell to avoid capital gains tax.

The cryptocurrency market has the advantage of being largely unrelated to ex-dividend or taxation. Ahead of the presidential election, the National Assembly postponed the taxation timing on capital gains to January 1, 2023. This created expectations for fund inflows due to tax-saving hopes.

However, as cryptocurrency prices showed weakness, these expectations were completely shattered. Bitcoin, which recorded an all-time high of 82.7 million won last month, has seen little fluctuation around the 60 million won level this month. Altcoins, which surged more than 40% in a day, are also sluggish. Among the 164 cryptocurrencies listed on Upbit, 160 recorded negative returns over the past month.

Professor Hong Ki-hoon of Hongik University’s Department of Business Administration explained, “Although the stock market is volatile, it moves within a predictable range such as ex-dividend, whereas the uncertainty of the cryptocurrency market will be an obstacle to attracting more funds.”

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