South Korean cryptocurrency exchange BTC trading volume increased by about 10 times year-on-year

According to South Korean media Maekyung, investors' interest in Bitcoin has surged over the past year as they view it as an alternative asset like gold amid rising uncertainty caused by the new coronavirus.

On Thursday, industry insiders said that the monthly Bitcoin trading volume of South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges Upbit and Bithumb soared in January, 10-11 times that of the same period last year. In January last year, Upbit's monthly trading volume was 1.63 trillion won (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars), and it surged to 18.28 trillion won last month, an increase of more than 10 times year-on-year. Another major exchange, Bithumb, also achieved strong growth during the same period. Bithumb's Bitcoin trading volume last month was 12.81 trillion won, far higher than 1.31 trillion won in the same period last year.