Kim Dong-hyun reveals he sold his home to invest in crypto — and lost as housing prices climbed higher

Kim Dong-hyun, a broadcaster and former UFC fighter, has revealed that he lives in a partial jeonse apartment after selling a home he once owned to invest in cryptocurrency — an investment that ultimately failed.

In a video posted Wednesday on singer Lee Ji-hye's YouTube channel "Mipji Anheun Gwanjongunni," Kim showed viewers the apartment where he currently lives — a unit in the 60-pyeong range (about 198 square meters; 1 pyeong equals 3.3 square meters) in Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

"I've gone from one partial jeonse to another," Kim said. "I've been saving hard, but every time I think I'm catching up, the housing train moves even further ahead."

Kim had previously owned a unit at Hannam The Hill, a luxury residential complex in Hannam-dong, before selling it and putting the proceeds into cryptocurrency. "I stepped off the train for a moment to look around elsewhere, and by the time I came back, the doors had slammed shut," he said.

His wife, Song Ha-yul, said she had taken the news more calmly than expected. "I was surprisingly unfazed. I just trusted him and left it in his hands," she said. Kim added that his wife has nerves of steel: "Whenever I'm anxious, she tells me, 'It's OK, it'll work out.'"

Two years ago, Kim was living in a partial jeonse unit in the 80-pyeong range (about 264 square meters) at Banpo Xi in Seocho-gu, leading to speculation that he has since downsized. Units in the 60-pyeong range at Banpo Xi are currently priced at around 6 billion won ($3.88 million) on the sale market, with jeonse prices hovering around 2.8 billion won.