South Korea's Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon is demanding strict regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrency trading. Bitcoin's value grew from $10 billion in January to $167 billion today, and Lee views thi
South Korea's Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon is demanding strict regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrency trading. Bitcoin's value grew from $10 billion in January to $167 billion today, and Lee views this explosion as a direct threat to young people entering the market.
He's watching teenagers and young investors pour money into bitcoin hoping for quick returns. South Korea has no licensing program for crypto exchanges; Japan does. Lee warned that without regulation, the situation could turn dangerous: "If we let things continue, I feel some serious pathological phenomenon could occur." He also blamed bitcoin directly, saying it is "corrupting kids" through its soaring valuations.
The growth rates are staggering. Ether prices rose nearly 60-fold this year alone, far outpacing bitcoin. These aren't marginal trading venues either. Bithumb, the world's second-largest crypto exchange, processes more daily volume than KOSDAQ, South Korea's premier stock market. More capital trades through bitcoin daily than through Apple, the world's most heavily traded stock. Trading this much capital signals a market too large to dismiss as fringe speculation.
But Lee overlooks key evidence. Amazon, Tesla, SpaceX, Tencent, Nvidia, and Facebook all posted substantial gains this year. Young American investors bought shares in these companies without Lee or other officials calling for protective regulation. There's no logical basis for treating bitcoin differently. If gaining value "corrupts" young investors, then every appreciating asset in the market has the same effect.
Bitcoin has become a functioning market for a real asset, one increasingly attractive to institutions. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong explained the scale of institutional interest: "Over 100 hedge funds have been created in the past year exclusively to trade digital currency. An even greater number of traditional institutional investors are starting to look at trading digital assets (including family offices, sovereign wealth funds, traditional hedge funds, and more). By some estimates there is $10B of institutional money waiting on the sidelines to invest in digital currency today."
Young people viewing bitcoin as a store of value isn't cause for alarm. They're building financial independence and control outside the traditional banking system. Bitcoin enables decentralization and censorship resistance that conventional bank accounts cannot provide. Millennials aren't getting corrupted by this choice—they're making informed decisions about where and how to hold their assets.
