2025-12-31 01:24:52

From the crazy scene where Upbit's trading volume soared to $27.45 billion on the night of the martial law order two years ago, to the current daily trading volume plummeting by 80% to $1.78 billion— the topic heat among Korean retail investors in the crypto market is visibly fading at a rapid pace.

This is not just a matter of changing investment directions. The group that used to flood Kakao Talk communities with discussions on altcoins 24/7 now only talks about AI chip concepts and Samsung Electronics. Even the collective vibe of the community has changed.

At first glance, it indeed looks like a bear market retreat, but if you look deeper, the Luna crash in 2022 was the real watershed. How severe was that impact? Luna was branded as a "national hope" in Korea, its founder Do Kwon was hailed as "Korea’s Elon Musk," and countless young people bet everything they had. The price plummeted from nearly $90 to below $0.015, and a market cap of $40 billion vanished overnight.

This collapse of trust had a psychological impact on Korea’s retail investors far beyond any other market crash experienced at the same time. When investors realized that their once-"hope" had turned into total loss, they naturally migrated to relatively stable stock markets.

LUNA-0.51%

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GmGnSleeper

· 5h ago

Luna's crash really hurt people's hearts. Who still dares to touch the crypto world now? That scammer Do Kwon caused many Koreans to go bankrupt. Serves him right. From 27.45 billion to 1.78 billion, this is the reality, everyone. Going all-in to buy Luna, now switching to chip stocks. How exhausting it is. Actually, everyone is just scared. After being bitten by a snake once, they fear well ropes for ten years. LUNA dropped from 90 to 0.015, 40 billion just disappeared like that. Who still believes in crypto? Korean retail investors are scared to death. Switching to a different track is also normal. The change in community vibe is well said. It really feels like a different person. I don't understand why some people still insist on staying in the crypto world. I already ran away long ago. Once trust is broken, it's very hard to rebuild. That’s the real damage.

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NeonCollector

· 5h ago

That move by Luna was really incredible; Korean retail investors were directly hit and their mentality collapsed. Falling from 90 to 0.015, how many people must have gone all-in... No wonder everyone is now rushing to buy Samsung.

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PumpAnalyst

· 5h ago

The psychological shadow cast by retail investors in Korea... The LUNA incident really broke people's confidence, wiping out $40 billion overnight. Who can withstand that? Anyone would rush to buy stocks instead [Deep Breath]. But with an 80% drop in trading volume, I'm actually looking at the support levels... Don't rush to bearish predictions; maybe it's just a bottoming process. What did Do Kwon boast about back then? "Korea's Elon Musk"? Haha, that's exactly why I keep saying risk control is the most important, everyone... No matter how good the story, it can't fill the gaps created by the market makers. Now, the group rushing to buy Samsung chips will have to come back to us in half a year.

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MemecoinTrader

· 5h ago

ngl the luna collapse was the ultimate sentiment kill shot — watched that narrative infrastructure crumble in real time. retail's doing the classic flight-to-safety play now, totally predictable momentum shift tbh

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