Upbit continues to lead other South Korean cryptocurrency platforms, recording a 24-hour spot market trading volume of approximately $1.04 billion, as traders keep riding the momentum of the crypto market.
This figure surpasses the combined turnover of Upbit's three closest domestic competitors.
The recent rise in the price of bitcoin has given the market a chance to recover, and as a result, Korean retail investors have turned back to local exchange orders.
What is Upbit's position in the South Korean market?
The Upbit platform, operated by Dunamu, processed spot transactions worth about $1.04 billion in just 24 hours, surpassing Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit.
Bithumb earned about $632.6 million, Coinone about $67.9 million, and Korbit (now known as Digital X) about $11 million.
This surge in trading volume occurred after bitcoin exceeded the $80,000 mark for the first time since mid-May at the end of August. The price jump prompted Korean traders to start putting money back into local exchanges.
Upbit has existed since October 2017 and holds South Korea's first license to provide virtual asset services. Its platform lists over 180 tokens, while Bithumb, founded in 2014, has over 440 assets.
Before the rise on August 20, Upbit's daily turnover fluctuated between 300 and 600 billion won, but by Saturday afternoon it briefly reached 4.61 trillion won, almost ten times more than a week earlier. Bithumb also surpassed the 2 trillion won mark during the same period.
Cryptopolitan separately reported that Upbit grew by 273% in one day, reaching approximately $1.84 billion, marking the most active trading session since mid-March, with XRP becoming the most traded token on both Upbit and Bithumb.
Presto Research analyst Min Jung characterized Korean traders as "profit hunters" who buy assets that are already on the rise.
In the first half of 2026, Korea's four largest cryptocurrency exchanges lost a total of nearly 500 billion won ($364 million) due to falling cryptocurrency prices, which reduced the value of assets held on the exchanges, and low trading activity, leading to lower commissions from traders.
Trading commissions are the main source of income for these exchanges. They accounted for 96.91% of Dunamu's revenue in the first half of the year, which halved compared to the previous year.
Dunamu's operating profit also fell by 79.7% year-on-year in the first half, while Bithumb's decline was even more significant at 83.4%.
Cryptopolitan reported that trading volume on Korean exchanges in the first half of the year decreased by 54.6% compared to the previous year, amounting to $366.58 billion. This was largely due to money flowing into the Korean stock market, which reached record highs thanks to strong performance from companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix.
How are smaller exchanges trying to compete with Upbit?
With the resumption of trading activity, smaller exchanges are canceling fees to attract regular traders, as well as exchanges experiencing financial difficulties.
Coinone said it will cancel trading fees for all listed cryptocurrencies until further notice, and Digital X (Korbit) launched commission-free trading on its own exchange until August 2027.
After these changes, the average hourly trading volume on Digital X increased 36-fold—from 270 million won to 9.8 billion won. However, 87% of this increase comes from trading just one stablecoin, RLUSD, which the exchange distributed to major traders during a special event.
After canceling fees, Coinone's trading volume tripled to 8.2 billion won per hour but soon returned to normal levels.
Last year, Bithumb employed a similar strategy, offering a 68-day fee-free period, and although trading volumes increased for a while, Bithumb's market share never exceeded 30%. In February this year, the company tried again, offering 7 days of free access.
Upbit and Bithumb have so far only canceled fees for some tokens. For example, Upbit canceled transaction fees for stablecoins such as Tether (USDT-USD) starting July 26.
Meanwhile, Digital X's parent company, Mirae Asset Financial Group, is in talks to acquire Korbit for up to 140 billion won ($97.5 million).
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