One in three wealthy individuals with financial assets of over 1 billion won either currently holds or has previously held virtual assets. They are reported to have invested an average of 42 million won in virtual assets.
Hana Bank’s Hana Financial Research Institute published the '2025 South Korea Wealth Report' on the 16th, which analyzed the financial behaviors of the wealthy. This report was based on an online survey of 3,010 participants (884 wealthy individuals, 1,545 upper-middle-class, and 581 general public) and interviews with private bankers. The wealthy are defined as having financial assets of over 1 billion won, while the upper-middle-class individuals have financial assets between 100 million won and 1 billion won.
According to the report, one-third of wealthy individuals reported that they currently hold or have had experience with virtual assets as of last year. The average investment amount in virtual assets was approximately 42 million won, and among investors, 34% were found to hold four or more types of virtual assets. The percentage of the wealthy individuals investing over 10 million won in virtual assets exceeded 70%.
Currently, five to six out of ten virtual asset investors responded that they will continue to invest this year. Three maintained a neutral position, while only one indicated no intention to invest. The primary reason they are interested in virtual assets is 'revenue,' accounting for 49%. However, this percentage decreased compared to the past (59%), while the influences of investment accessibility (21% to 37%) and favorable conditions for growth (22% to 34%) have increased.
Yoon Seon-young, a research fellow at Hana Financial Research Institute, noted, "It indicates the maturity of the sector when the wealthy anticipate growth potential in virtual assets," and explained, "Wealthy individuals tend to thoroughly study before investing and prefer to invest in areas they are familiar with."
The wealthy generally expect the economy to worsen this year and reported plans to invest in safe assets like deposits, gold, and bonds rather than real estate. Among the wealthy, 74.8% anticipated a decline in the real economy this year, while 63.8% expected the real estate market to worsen further.
Among the respondents, those indicating they would increase the proportion of financial assets over real estate (15.2%) outnumbered those stating they would reduce financial assets in favor of increasing real estate (8.4%). The highest response for willingness to invest was in deposits at 40.4%, followed by gold (32.2%) and bonds (32.0%). Responses indicating intention to invest in real estate was at 20.4%, lower than stocks (29.2%) or funds and trusts (23.9%).
However, younger wealthy individuals, or "young rich," under 40 revealed plans to consistently invest in overseas stocks and virtual assets. The stock holding rate among the young rich was at 78%, about 1.2 times higher than that for the old rich (66.4%). Notably, the proportion of overseas stocks among total holdings was about 30%, higher than the old rich (20%). The young rich indicated plans to expand their proportion of overseas stocks up to 40% this year. The holding rate for virtual assets was 29%, the lowest among financial products, but still three times that of the old rich (10.0%).
Hwang Seon-kyung, a research fellow, analyzed, "The young rich are leading investment trends, including investments in virtual assets, and tend to utilize finance more effectively to increase their assets compared to the old rich."