South Korean Investors Dump $657M in Tesla Stock, Chase Crypto Returns Instead

South Korean retail investors sold a net $657 million in Tesla stock during August, marking the largest outflow since early 2023 as traders pivot toward crypto investments amid growing disillusionment with the electric vehicle ￰2￱ to a Bloomberg report , the dump resulted from waning enthusiasm among Tesla’s most loyal global retail base, with investors instead favoring volatile crypto proxies, such as Bitmine Immersion Technologies, which attracted $253 million in net ￰3￱ Korean investors reduced their ￰4￱ tech share purchases from a monthly average of $1.68 billion between January and April to just $260 million in July, according to the Korean Center for International Finance.

Crypto-related stock investments surged from 8.5% in January to 36.5% in June before declining to 31.4% in July as domestic markets outperformed overseas ￰5￱ 10,000 Koreans hold $750K+ in crypto, led by young investors, despite being the smallest group. #Korean #Crypto ￰0￱ — ￰6￱ (@cryptonews) August 25, 2025 The shift coincides with South Korea’s aggressive push toward developing the crypto market, with President Lee Jae-myung designating digital asset ecosystem construction as a “key national task” within the five-year state administration ￰7￱ of August, over 10,000 Korean crypto investors now hold assets exceeding 1 billion won ($750,000), with the nation’s 10.86 million active trading accounts representing roughly 20% of the ￰8￱ Loses Its Korean Retail Champion Status to Crypto Fever Tesla remains the top foreign stock among Korean retail traders with $21.9 billion in holdings, but investor sentiment has soured ￰9￱ Jungsu, a 33-year-old investor who first bought Tesla in 2019, sold his position earlier this year, stating, “Tesla used to offer a lot of inspiring narratives but it has failed to win people’s hearts.”) per ￰10￱ half of South Koreans aged 20-59 have experience with crypto trading, establishing the nation as a global crypto powerhouse.

Government-Led Crypto Infrastructure Revolution Accelerates President Lee Jae-myung’s administration has fast-tracked pro-business crypto reforms, reclassifying crypto trading firms as “venture companies” to grant them access to tax incentives, subsidies, and state-backed financing that was previously denied since ￰11￱ Ministry of SMEs and Startups proposed amendments to include Virtual Asset Service Providers under the status of a venture ￰12￱ Korea is moving to reclassify crypto firms as “venture companies,” which would grant access to government subsidies. #SouthKorea #Crypto ￰1￱ — ￰13￱ (@cryptonews) July 9, 2025 Similarly, financial regulators have lifted restrictions on institutional crypto investments while preparing approval for Korea’s first spot crypto ￰14￱ Financial Services Commission presented implementation measures for spot crypto ETFs and regulatory frameworks for won-based stablecoins, scheduled for implementation in late ￰15￱ banks established dedicated crypto teams , anticipating legislative ￰16￱ Bank launched a nine-member Digital Asset Team, while Kookmin Bank created a Digital Asset Response Council covering KB Financial Group ￰17￱ Bank formed a 20-employee crypto task force as institutions prepare rapid market entry ￰18￱ institutions, including Busan Bank, have also established blockchain teams that cover all aspects of distributed ledger ￰19￱ adoption of crypto grows, the Financial Intelligence Unit has begun reorganizing anti-money laundering protocols to institutionalize the use of stablecoins, conducting external research to compile guidelines for operators and issuers in December.