Korea’s leading exchanges have agreed to form a new emergency system that will spring into action within 24 hours should another Terra-style collapse threaten to come to pass. Under the new system, exchanges will convene to respond to sudden adverse market effects such as what happened with Terra in May. The agreement came after five of the country’s largest crypto exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax attended a session at the National Assembly, South Korea’s legislature to address market fairness on Monday, according to a report from local news outlet Daily Sports. Exchange leaders, members of National Assembly, and …

The operator of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, Dunamu, is facing pushback from regulators due to a controversial investment while authorities move to issue restrictions to stifle its monopolistic position. Dunamu’s total assets are valued at over 10 trillion KRW ($8.06 billion) and Upbit controls an overwhelming 80% of the domestic trading volume. As a result, regulators see Dunamu and by extension Upbit, as a monopoly with too much power that should be curtailed. Regulators could prevent its growth by designating it a large corporation, which would restrict its market activities. Large corporations and investment firms in South Korea are …

South Korean crypto exchanges have reached the government-mandated deadline to come into compliance with the so-called Travel Rule, but not all industry players are pleased with the measure. Starting today, Korean exchanges will flag any crypto transfers worth more than roughly $821. Transfers higher than that value will be restricted to user-verified wallets and a select number of exchanges that have adopted their anti-money laundering system. The Travel Rule is a set of guidelines issued by the international financial watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) designed to help authorities track the movement of virtual assets between virtual asset service providers …

Dunamu, the operator of major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, is progressing with blockchain development as its blockchain arm Lambda256 secured new funding. According to a Dec. 15 announcement, Lambda256 raised 70 billion Korean won ($60 million) in a Series B round, valuing the company at over $300 million. The firm is focused on enterprise-grade chains for businesses, building on its own blockchain protocol called Luniverse. The funding round included major venture capital firms and individual investors like tech giant Hanhwa Systems, travel tech startup Yanolja, bikes manufacturer Daelim, DSC Investments, Shinhan Venture Capital, KB Investments and SBI Investments. Dunamu …

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit will soon halt services for unverified users. On Saturday, the company officially announced a set of changes to its customer verification system in compliance with South Korea’s mandatory Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements. According to the announcement, Upbit will start gradually limiting services for unverified users this week, restricting unverified customers from transacting more than 1 million Korean won ($850) at a time, effective Wednesday, Oct. 6. “Once customer verification is completed, the 1 million won limit will be lifted; members who submit an order with less than 1 million won can proceed with customer verification …

Crypto users between 30 and 39 years old are the demographic with the most deposits on major exchanges in South Korea. According to a Sunday report from the Yonhap News Agency, South Korean residents in their thirties deposited roughly 2.2 trillion Korean won — $1.9 billion at the time of publication — to crypto exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit by the end of the second quarter of 2021. South Korean teenagers have the fewest deposits at $3.4 million, but this was still an increase of more than 400% compared with the $824,000 that they deposited in Q1 2021. “All …

Major South Korean cryptocurrency company Upbit has reportedly submitted a business report with the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Upbit reported its digital asset business to the FIU, which operates under South Korea’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Upbit’s operator, Dunamu, announced the news on Friday, The Korea Economic Daily reported. Upbit is one of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges alongside Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit, and reportedly makes up more than 80% of the local cryptocurrency market. FSC vice chairman Doh Gyu-sang said that the authority will be ready to accept more reports from the most popular …

South Korea's cryptocurrency market continues to transform under the weight of mounting regulatory pressures. Major crypto exchanges such as Upbit have this week moved to delist or warn against specific digital assets they have judged to be high-risk for investors. The trend, as local reporters note, has seemingly been sparked by the increasing level of intervention by financial regulators into crypto service providers' operations. Last week, Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reportedly contacted 33 crypto trading platforms to warn that it would be conducting a field consultation before Sept. 24. These consultations aim to check whether or not the businesses …

South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group is reportedly acquiring a stake in the parent company of major local cryptocurrency exchange Upbit. Hanwha Investment and Securities, the securities brokerage arm of Hanwha Group, has reached an agreement to buy a 6.15% stake in Upbit’ operator Dumanu for 58.3 billion won ($52.24 million), The Korea Herald reported on Feb. 3. According to the report, the acquisition of 2.06 million shares is scheduled to take place on Feb. 22. A representative from Hanwha said that the deal is a long-term investment for the company to keep up with the fast-growing fintech industry and digitization: …

Crypto exchange Upbit is entering the Thai market at a fortuitous time when the kingdom’s most popular exchange, Bitkub, remains suspended by government regulators. According to reports in local media, a joint-venture crypto exchange between Upbit APAC and a group of Thai billionaires launched operations on Wednesday, Jan. 20. It follows the regulatory suspension of the country’s most popular trading platform Bitkub on Monday, which had a reported 97% share of the market before its closure. Upbit Thailand is owned by CP Group heir and owner of Fortune magazine Chatchaval Jiaravanon, and two other high profile business magnates, Somphote Ahunai …

After a series of regulatory changes led the South Korean exchange UpBit to force out its foreign users from the platform, the company is setting up a new division in Thailand. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, UpBit has received approval from Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission to operate its digital asset exchange in the country. The Thai SEC has approved the exchange for four provisional licenses that allow the company to operate under four categories namely cryptocurrency exchange, digital token exchange, cryptocurrency broker, and digital token broker. UpBit claims that it is the first-ever digital asset business to …

The lack of regulatory uncertainty in South Korea is causing major Korean cryptocurrency exchanges to lose international traders and turn their focus on the domestic audience. Speaking to Cointelegraph, a spokesperson of the South Korean exchange Upbit expressed his concern about their platform facing issues with providing fiat to crypto trading to its users: “Providing fiat trading via authenticated banking accounts has been a key issue for us as we were unable to provide the service for over two years.” New partnership as a partial solution To partially solve the challenge, Upbit on June 23 partnered with an internet-only bank …