Subscribe
E-Paper
By Lee Min-hyung
An unprecedented craze for the encrypted currency here is creating "Bitcoin zombies." They refer to those who check the Bitcoin price day and night expecting its value to increase.
More and more people have been jumping onto the Bitcoin bandwagon in recent weeks when the value for the cryptocurrency surged by a huge margin, despite recent fluctuations over reports that the government plans to regulate the volatile digital currency market.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, one Bitcoin traded at 18.75 million won ($17,167) on the nation's largest digital token exchange, up 150 percent from a month ago.
The value of a Bitcoin touched one million won about a year ago, and had been on a slow rise until this October. But its value soared to reach as high as 25 million won in recent weeks amid expectations for its trading debut on the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
One downside of the digital token is its uncertainty, as it is not accepted as an official currency on the global markets.
But with Bitcoin officially making its trading debut on the futures market Monday, more and more Bitcoin zombies are expected to pay close attention to the ups and downs of its real-time trading value. Bitcoin transactions can be made 24 hours everyday, and investors can keep track of the digital currency in real time on its exchanges on the web.
The global trend of accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment _ in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan _ will also come as a boon for Bitcoin zombies here, even if the Korean government is on track to announce a series of regulatory measures on the digital currency due to its wild fluctuations.
Identifying Bitcoin as speculation-prone, a special taskforce led by the Ministry of Justice has recently been formed to introduce a string of regulatory policies, in a bid to reduce the hotly speculative Bitcoin trades here. They plan to make public the regulatory measures as early as the end of this week.
The fluctuating Bitcoin market is also casting influences on other business sectors here, driving down stock prices of some Bitcoin-themed companies, mostly listed on the tech-savvy KOSDAQ, which had expressed their plan to tap into the digital currency business.
"With the encrypted currency market booming here, individual investors have also begun making investments into digital currency-themed stocks," said Park Nok-seon, an analyst at NH Investment and Securities. "Their value shows moves similar to that of politics-themed stocks, which go up and down regardless of the fundamentals, so investors should pay special attention before making investments," the analyst said.
