Bitcoin investors are not what you think / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Contrary to the popular belief that cryptocurrency investors are mostly young people without a stable income, residents of southern Seoul's affluent Gangnam District and people with stable government jobs are most interested in the virtual currency, data showed.

People who live in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, and those who work for the government are showing the most interest in cryptocurrency, according to mobile data analysis platform IGA Works.

The platform's analysis found that around 7.6 million Koreans are using apps related to cryptocurrency. These apps include those for domestic virtual exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb, overseas exchanges like Binance and cryptocurrency community apps like Coinness, as well as any other apps that coin investors are likely to use.

The 7.6 million figure is similar to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) data submitted to Rep. Ahn Do-geol of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which showed around 7.7 million of the accounts at Upbit and Bithumb are active.

According to IGA Works, around 340,000 people are using cryptocurrency-related apps in Gangnam District, which has a total of 562,000 residents. The number of similar app users totaled 220,000 in neighboring Seocho District, also known as an affluent area. That is more than half the district’s 412,000 residents.

The analysis showed that residents of the affluent districts, who have been mostly investing in real estate and stocks, are interested in cryptocurrency as well.

It is also notable that government workers are interested in cryptocurrency. Among the coin-related app users, government workers totaled 460,000. This means four out of 10 government workers are estimated to be investing in cryptocurrency. While they are not banned from such investments unless their job gives them access to cryptocurrency-related information or they can exercise influence due to their job, government officials in higher ranks are required to report their cryptocurrency investments.

The investors were mostly in their 40s, totaling 2.2 million, or 30s totaling 2 million. The number of investors in their 20s stood at 1.6 million.

The FSS also found that 34.5 percent of those holding over 1 billion won ($716,000) in cryptocurrency are in their 40s, though these large investments represent only 0.04 percent of all cryptocurrency accounts.