Forbes Asia - June 2018

18. LEE JAY-HYUN
    $1.95 BILLION
    CJ GROUP AGE: 58


19. LEE SEO-HYUN S
    $1.9 BILLION
    SAMSUNG C&T
    AGE: 44


20. LEE JOONG-KEUN
    $1.8 BILLION T
    BOOYOUNG AGE: 77


21. KIM JUN-KI
    $1.65 BILLION S
    DONGBU AGE: 73


22. LEE HO-JIN
    $1.55 BILLION S
    TAEKWANG INDUSTRIAL
    AGE: 55


23. CHANG PYUNG-SOON
    $1.54 BILLION
    KYOWON GROUP
    AGE: 67


24. KIM TAEK-JIN
    $1.53 BILLION
    NCSOFT AGE: 51


25. CHEY KI-WON
    $1.5 BILLION S
    SK HOLDINGS AGE: 53


26. CHUNG YONG-JIN
    $1.49 BILLION S
    E-MART & SHINSEGAE
    AGE: 49


27. HUR YOUNG-IN
    $1.47 BILLION S
    PARIS-CROISSANT FOOD
    AGE: 69


28. CHO JUNG-HO
    $1.42 BILLION S
    MERITZ FINANCIAL GROUP
    AGE: 59


29. CHUNG MONG-JOON
    $1.4 BILLION
    HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES
    AGE: 66


30. LEE HWA-KYUNG
    $1.3 BILLION S
    ORION AGE: 62


31. KIM NAM-JUNG
    $1.26 BILLION T
    DONGWON AGE: 45


32. SHIN DONG-GUK
    $1.2 BILLION 3
    HANMI SCIENCE
    AGE: 68


33. SHIN DONG-BIN
    $1.19 BILLION
    LOTTE AGE: 63


34. KOO BON-SIK
    $1.18 BILLION S
    HEESUNG & LG
    AGE: 59

THE LIST

SUP MORE THAN 10% TDOWN MORE THAN 10%

ÌNEW TO LIST 3 RETURNEE

JUNE 2018 FORBES ASIA | 73

LEE HAE-JIN: ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

domestic market,” says Hong. “h e preference for

risk in the market supplies liquidity in bitcoin.”

And South Korea bans most forms of gambling, so

players didn’t have that option. So risk-takers were

ready to pour hot money into digital currencies.

With high mobile-phone penetration—mobile

transfers are instantaneous, with no holding time

at the bank—and a highly urbanized population in

which trends and news spread like wildi re, South

Korea became the perfect test bed for crypto.

At er the crash in January the Kimchi Pre-

mium lost its kick as regulators put guardrails on

the speculators and trading calmed down. But the

country’s leading companies and banks continue

to invest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the

technology underlying the digital tokens.

Game makers such as Nexon, Smilegate, Net-

marble and NHN Entertainment have delved into

cryptocurrency, which has long drawn interest as a

replacement for in-game currencies that would help

users easily purchase game items and make transac-

tions more transparent. Game makers would like to

stamp out speculation on items and the distribu-

tion of unauthorized items. h ey believe that if

digital currencies only could be used to buy game

items, these practices would end. “h e connection

between games and cryptocurrency is huge,” said

Netmarble Chairman Bang Jun-Hyuk in February.

Jinyoung Park and Yohan Yun contributed to

this article.

LEE HAE-JIN, NO. 48

His Naver, the country’s leading search engine,

poured $300 million into blockchain and other

pioneering technologies in the fi rst quarter of

this year. Naver’s mobile messenger Line is also

making forays into digital currencies though

two of its subsidiaries.

KIM BEOM-SU, NO. 13
Owns 22% of Korean fi ntech startup Dunamu,
which last October launched what is now
South Korea’s largest exchange, Upbit. Also
backed by his internet giant Kakao, Upbit
handles trading in 138 coins in 260 markets
worldwide.

LEE JOON-HO, NO. 35

Chairs NHN Entertainment,

which backed OKCoin’s

launch of a crypto exchange

in South Korea in January.

OKCoin was China’s biggest

such exchange before Beijing

banned crypto trading last

year.

LEE SANG-HYUK, NO. 40

His Yello Mobile, an incuba-

tor and investor in apps,

bought 52% of Dayli Financial

Group for $105 million last

September.

Dayli owns Coinone, which

last year was one of South

Korea’s largest cryptocurren-

cy exchanges. Also spent $70

million in January for 35% of

Moda, a maker of wireless

equipment that is shifting

its business to gaming and

cryptocurrency.