South Korea’s KOSPI Soars-Crypto HODLers, Start Dreaming (or Not) 🤑

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In the land where ambition meets relentless tides, South Korea’s KOSPI stock index has climbed, stubborn as a prisoner’s hope, to a height unseen in four years and two months.

Foreign buying flooded the market like an unstoppable force, dragging even the phantom shadows of crypto-related stocks upward. Meanwhile, President Lee Jae-myung prepares to declaim new financial decrees at his 100-day press conference on September 11-as if oracles of ancient times might whisper truths rather than promises.

Market Reform Hopes: The Mirage Beckons, or Does It?

The KOSPI opened at 3336.60 on Thursday, pushing beyond its previous summit of 3,316.08 from June 25, 2021, like a caged beast suddenly unleashed. It bloomed by 1.67% overnight, a brief flare in the cold vastness of markets that have seen too much already. This year, it scored an elusive 38.1% gain-sharper than 42 other indices in 32 countries-proof that even in the land of miracles, numbers alone cannot soothe the soul.

Stock Market Chart

Foreign investors swept in with $1 billion, the largest flood since last June-while Korean institutions pondered in the shadow, adding a modest $654 million. But the local retail soldiers-oh, those trusting, hopeful souls-sold off $1.63 billion worth of shares, capturing their meager spoils before the storm that will surely follow.

Analysts, those modern-day soothsayers, claim optimism buoyed by President Lee’s reform plans-though one wonders if hope is not merely another name for desperation. The US’s interest rate cuts weakened the dollar, sending a dull gleam to Korean shores. The government chose to keep the “major shareholder” tax threshold at a lofty $3.6 million (₩5 billion), rejecting the temptation to tighten the noose at $720,000 (₩1 billion)-a small mercy, perhaps, for those who seek to climb higher.

On Thursday, the president’s 100-day proclamations will fall upon the ears of investors, and if the Fates are kind, the KOSPI may yet rise. Or, like all such promises, it may crumble into the dust of forgotten dreams.

Crypto-Linked Stocks: Riding Hope’s Hollow Wave

The real question lingers: will this soaring stock tide lift the cryptic vessels of digital currency companies? The skeptics clutch their coins; the hopeful grin wryly.

Woori Technology Investment Co., riding the waves of KOSDAQ’s junior tech marketplace, surged 5.67% to $73 (₩100,810). Year-to-date, it boasts a 50.35% gain-almost as if the ghostly hand of fortune smiled briefly. Foreigners hold 6.39% of its 84 million shares, perhaps enchanted by the distant dream of Dunamu, the parent empire of Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Crypto Graph

The rally rides on whispers of regulatory reforms, stablecoin adoption, and a cacophony of corporate trademark filings-like hopeful troubadours singing of a digital dawn.

Neowiz Holdings, a game developer clutching 123 Bitcoins, sees its share price rise 38% year-to-date to $18-a modest but gleeful ascent akin to a cat nabbing a morsel from the table.

Meanwhile, Wemade, Korea’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin with 223 BTC, tumbled 19.3% to $20, despite its ex-CEO’s acquittal on charges of WEMIX token manipulation. Justice, it seems, has as much randomness as the markets themselves.

Fifteen Korean firms now hoard at least 450 Bitcoins among their digital treasures, a testament not to certainty but to the persistent human folly of chasing dreams amidst the rubble.

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2025-09-11 04:27