Upbit - South Korea’s largest Cryptocurrency Exchange

Upbit is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea and the 6th largest exchange worldwide, according to CoinMarketCap With a current daily trading volume of over $600 million the exchange lists over 140 coins. At the peak of December 2017’s cryptocurrency mania, Upbit’s average trading volume reached $4.5 billion a day, with a one-day record of $11 billion.

Upbit provides several layers of security for it’s users. First of all, requiring to be authenticated using legal forms of identification. The exchange also uses 2-Factor Authentication. Upbit’s online wallet security is provided by BitGo, favored by many of the leading crypto exchanges worldwide.

Upbit was founded in October 2017 by Song Chi-Hyung. Through its holding company Dunamu, in October Upbit secured funding from internet giant Kakao Corp. and partnered with U.S.-based Bittrex exchange.

Dunamu Chief Song Chi-hyung said the partnership with Bittrex would not only allow them to “support the largest number of digital currency trading services,” but also address problems such as “inconveniences of existing Altcoin investment, time delays, and complicated account management.”

According to Forbes, one of Korea’s richest men, Song graduated from the prestigious Seoul National University, obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics. He withdrew plans for an MBA during the late 1990s on the heels of a surge in Korea’s internet infrastructure and landed his first tech job at an IT firm.

Dunamu, the company behind Upbit, started out in 2012 as an online news aggregator but quickly moved into Fintech. On March 26, 2018 the company announced plans to invest $93 million (100 billion won) into blockchain industry over the next three years.

Considering the high interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain in Korea, Song Chi-hyung said it was a “pivotal opportunity for Korea to become the global mecca of blockchain-based technologies.”

The Upbit website and exchange platform are both available only in Korean, which makes it largely unavailable to a broader international audience. Furthermore, foreigners are not eligible to join the trade unless they meet the four main requirements that apply to local users, as well. Anyone willing to trade on Upbit should have a KakaoTalk and KakaoPay accounts, and a real name verified through a Korean mobile number.

KakaoTalk is a no-cost, multifaceted instant messaging app with free text and free call features. KakaoPay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Kakao that allows users to make mobile payments and online transactions.

The only fiat currency that Upbit currently supports is the South Korean won. It is also required to have a domestic bank/brokerage account in your name, so that you can withdraw the Korean currency to the account after the account authentication procedure.

The only Fiat currency that Upbit currently supports is the South Korean Won, in which deposits can be made in and out of from South Korean bank accounts. Thanks to the partnership with Bittrex, Upbit supports a wide range of coins and tokens, listing 145 coins from 267 markets.

Upbit exchange charges no fees on deposits, while withdrawal fees vary depending on the cryptocurrencies or won withdrawn.

According to Upbit’s official website, payments are supported in KRW, BTC, ETH, ETC, BCC, and OMG. The withdrawal of other coins will be provided soon. Coins for which the current withdrawal function is not supported can be withdrawn after conversion into KRW or BTC.

Daily deposit and withdrawal limits depend on security level. Deposit amounts are unlimited for those with 2-factor authentication, while withdrawals amount stands at 50 million KRW a day.

Time required to deposit money may vary from one currency to another, but it usually takes from 10 to 30 minutes. However, if the blockchain network is overloaded, reconfirmation may be delayed and the deposit may also take a while to process.

In March 2018 Upbit launched Korea’s first cryptocurrency Index to help crypto investors to better understand market trends. Upbit Crypto Index takes measures from four market indices based on long-term transactional data at the exchange by calculating standard values in confidence intervals, Business Korea reported. The four indices developed include Market Index, Sector index, Bitcoin Index and Strategy Index.

The offices of Urbit were raided by local police, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KIU) in May this year. Police suspected the exchange of operating its order books without storing cryptocurrencies and pretending that it held large amounts of user funds in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies.

At the time, several insider sources claimed Upbit only operated wallets of around 90 cryptocurrencies even though the exchange had 130 cryptocurrencies listed on the platform. However, the investigation found the exchange not guilty of fraud, the Korean Money Today reported.