Having the 11th world’s largest economy, South Korea can boast a highly educated population and productive workforce. Within a single generation, the country has managed to make a huge leap from dire poverty to economic and technical thriving. It’s not a surprise that South Korea became a hotbed of crypto projects.

What drives the interest to cryptocurrencies and ICOs in Korea?

Its residents are very tech-savvy and welcome the adoption of digital money;

Due to long working days and conditions, Korean workers are seeking investing opportunities to shorten years to retirement;

Seoul’s density allows for word to spread fast.

Korean’s technological knowledge serves as a solid foundation for innovative ICOs — the country can boast tens of famous projects that have already entered the market.

Among the most outstanding initiatives, we should mention:

Fantom. This is the first DAG-based blockchain that features the smart contract allowing for instant transactions and great scalability with minimal expenses. This ICO is designed to revolutionize the industries of telecom, real estate, supply chain, and banking. During the crowdsale, Fantom raised $2 mln. Quarkchain. This project has become highly popular due to the striking speed of transactions (the team aims to reach 1 mln TPS rate). The blockchain system consists of two layers and so-called shards that work independently and process transactions quickly. In June 2018, Quarkchain finished the crowdsale by raising $20 mln, and investors have already managed to enjoy 13x ETH returns, and 4.7x BTC returns. Metadium. It is a blockchain identity protocol that allows users to manage their identity and data. In the private sale, the project raised $35 mln: it was supported by Kenetic, FBG, Hashed, Blocktower Capital and many other companies.

By the way, Metadium was not the only blockchain project to get financial support from leading companies. The vast majority of Korean ICOs are sponsored by other national projects with the funds raised during private sales. Carry (Spoqa’s affiliate project), Terra, and Cosmochain are good cases in point. Blockchain industry of South Korea is a closed market players of which count on each other rather than international partners. Moreover, some Korean projects are created to serve as a catalyst of ICO development: BLOCKCHAINi has already helped tens of Korean companies enter the market.

Aside from financial backup, many Korean ICOs can boast a serious informational support from globally acknowledged advisors. For instance, Precium project works with Alex Kim, Hoontak Jung (EBM founder), Joseph Jang (Sansoo Ventures), Jonathan Lee (SIX Network, XCHNG, Blue Block Capital and HARA), and some other well-known blockchain specialists. Their expertise helps the team develop advanced smart contract solutions together with the innovative hybrid blockchain.

The Korean ICO market has an enormous potential. Technological advancements coupled with the dedication of hard-working Koreans make their projects true diamonds of the blockchain market. There’s only one thing hindering the major breakouts — the blockchain ban imposed by the Korean government in 2017. At the moment, Korean authorities consider removing this ban: pressure on ICOs can be reduced, if companies follow certain rules and regulations. Most likely, many ICO founders will breathe a sigh of relief in 2019.