Cryptocurrency Was Their Way Out of South Korea’s Lowest Rungs

&gt; Mr. Kim, who is 27 and lives with his parents, once made so much money trading cryptocurrencies that he was spending $1,000 a month on whatever he wanted. He quit his job. He borrowed to buy more. He planned to buy a house.<p>Cryptocurrency markets are so volatile that I would just stash that $1,000 a month away somewhere rather than trying to double down. I&#x27;d consider every penny I earned to be a win and hope it continued for a while. I&#x27;d expect it to end in tears if I didn&#x27;t. I guess I&#x27;m just more risk-averse.

I just got back from South Korea (Seoul) where I spent a month working and on vacation. By no means am I any sort of expert, but here are my insights which may be somewhat of a rant.<p>&gt; Mr. Kim, who is 27 and lives with his parents<p>- A lot of people in their twenties still live with their parents in S. Korea. It is very common.<p>&gt; He has lost a lot of money, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars.<p>- S. Korea is very fashion and tech savvy. It is also very wealthy notable mostly in Seoul and Itaewon. Koreans are really into how they look including high end brands and cars (Mercedes, BMW&#x27;s are rampant in the city). The women are infatuated with makeup, their appearance, and Instagram. It makes sense that S. Korea was a crypto hub and that it went absolutely wild there.<p>- There is a noticeable pro-America vibe in S. Korea and wearing clothes or fashion that has the American Flag is typically high end. They also love Whiskey, specifically Jack Daniels which I thought was funny because I live in Tennessee..

This seems similar to &quot;Blackjack was their way out of USA&#x27;s lowest rungs&quot;, and some people made a bunch of money and most people lost a bunch of money.

Last year, when SK government clamped down on cryptocoin exchanges, many crypto-enthusiasts cried foul and claimed that (just like this article says) cryptocurrencies are the waves of the future and the only way out of their &quot;dirt spoon&quot; status.<p>Well, IMHO, the subsequent collapse of bitcoin proved the government&#x27;s point. Without timely intervention, there could now be millions who suddenly found their iron spoons turned to dirt.

The current price is back at the price in August 2017. Anybody who got in before the subsequent speculative wave is doing absolutely fine. The $20,000 price of December 2017 was a speculative fluke of some kind of wannabe gold rush. For someone like me, who got in years before, I am actually happy that the hot money is mostly gone now. That batch gold diggers were turning the entire scene into a gigantic lottery carnival.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt4240730&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt4240730&#x2F;</a> Misaeng. Provides an interesting view of life in a Korean trading company (not bitcoin). Apparently not too far off reality.<p>Pretty great series.