Upbit ranks first in South Korea, and a rebound in cryptocurrency boosts trading volume

Upbit maintains leading position in the Korean market

Upbit still occupies a leading position among South Korean cryptocurrency trading platforms, with spot trading volume of approximately US$1.04 billion in 24 hours, and traders continue to flock to this market boom. This figure exceeds the combined number of its three major domestic competitors. The recent rebound in Bitcoin has provided the market with an opportunity for recovery, and South Korean retail funds have also returned to local trading platforms.

How does Upbit rank in the Korean market?

Upbit, operated by Dunamu, handled approximately US$1.04 billion in spot transactions in just 24 hours, more than Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit combined. Bithumb traded for about $632.6 million, Coinome was about $67.9 million, and Korbit (now renamed Digital X) was close to $11 million.

The surge in transaction volume came after Bitcoin broke the $80,000 mark in late August, the first time since mid-May. Rising prices have prompted South Korean traders to start putting money back into local trading platforms. Upbit was established in October 2017 and holds South Korea's first virtual asset service provider license and has more than 180 tokens listed; while Bithumb, established in 2014, has more than 440 assets listed.

Upbit's daily trading volume had been between 300 billion and 600 billion won until its rebound on August 20, but hit 4.61 trillion won on Saturday afternoon, nearly ten times higher than a week ago. Bithumb also exceeded 2 trillion won in the same period. Other reports showed that Upbit's single-day trading volume surged 273% to approximately US$1.84 billion, the most active period since mid-March, with XRP being the single token with the highest transaction volume on Upbit and Bithumb.

Presto Research analyst Min Jung describes South Korean traders as "gain-chasing" who tend to buy assets that have risen. In the first half of 2026, South Korea's four major cryptocurrency trading platforms suffered a combined loss of nearly 500 billion won (approximately US$364 million), due to the decline in cryptocurrency prices, which led to a decline in the value of assets held by the platforms, and a decrease in fee income caused by sluggish trading activities. Transaction fees are the main source of revenue for these platforms, accounting for 96.91% of Dunamu's first-half revenue, but fell by half from last year. Dunamu's first-half operating profit fell 79.7% year-on-year, while Bithumb's decline was even larger, reaching 83.4%. Other reports showed that trading volume on South Korea's trading platforms in the first half of the year fell 54.6% from last year to US$366.58 billion. This is largely due to the inflow of funds into the South Korean stock market. The strong performance of companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix pushed the stock market to a record high.

How can small trading platforms compete with Upbit?

As trading activity picks up, small platforms are beginning to waive fees to attract ordinary traders and platforms that may face financial difficulties. Coinone announced that it will waive transaction fees for all listed tokens until further notice, while Digital X (Kbit) will launch zero-fee transactions on its own market, valid until August 2027. Since this change, Digital X's average hourly transaction volume has jumped from 270 million won to 9.8 billion won, a 36-fold increase. However, 87% of this increase came only from trading in the single stablecoin RLUSD-which the platform issued to large traders during special events. Coinone's hourly transaction volume tripled to 8.2 billion won after being free of fees, but quickly returned to normal levels. Bithumb tried a similar strategy last year, implementing a 68-day fee-free period. Trading volume rose for a time, but its market share never exceeded 30%. In February this year, Bithumb tried another seven-day fee-free event. Currently, Upbit and Bithumb only waive fees for some tokens. For example, Upbit waived fees for stablecoins such as Tether (USDT-USD) starting July 26.

Meanwhile, Mirae Asset Financial Group, the parent company of Digital X, is in talks to acquire Korbit with a transaction value of up to 140 billion won (approximately US$97.5 million).