Upbit

Key details

• Launch: 2017

Overview

Upbit is South Korea's dominant cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, operated by fintech company Dunamu and tightly integrated with Korea's real-name bank-account verification regime ^{1, 2, Korea, Republic of report}. It consistently ranks among the world's largest spot exchanges and anchors the Korean won crypto market.

History

2017 — Upbit launched by Dunamu in partnership with US exchange Bittrex, rapidly becoming Korea's leading venue. 2018–2020 — grows to dominate Korean crypto volume, integrating bank real-name accounts (later via K-Bank) to comply with Korean rules. 2021 — registers as a VASP under the Specific Financial Information Act with Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU). 2022–2024 — expands abroad with Upbit Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia operations. 2024–2025 — faces and works through regulatory reviews of its market dominance and KYC compliance while remaining the market leader.

Ownership & operator

Operating entity: Dunamu Inc. (Seoul, South Korea). Major shareholders: founder/chairman Song Chi-hyung and the Dunamu founding team, with strategic stakes held by Kakao and Woori Technology Investment. Regulators: South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) for VASP registration.

Technical integration

Mobile and web apps with a trading API. Supports BTC, ETH and a large roster of tokens via crypto deposit addresses. Korean won funding/withdrawal requires a real-name verified bank account (historically with K-Bank), reflecting Korea's strict KYC rules.

Implementations & partners

Major competitors: Binance (global exchange) + Coinbase (global exchange) + K Bank Korea (banking partner for fiat) and other Korean exchanges.

Status

Active, South Korea's leading crypto exchange and a top-ranked global spot venue ^{1, 2}.

Sources

• 1 Upbit — official
• 2 Upbit — Wikipedia
• ^{Korea, Republic of report} In-corpus: reports/countries/KR-south-korea.md

Source

Biography extracted from upbit.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.