Despite only launching in October 2017, by January 2018 UPbit was already the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea by average daily trading volumes. Without discounting the level of success represented by the rapid traction UPbit has achieved, the exchange does have some very serious backing. UPbit’s founder, Song Chi-Hyung, is one of South Korea’s richest men. Chi-Hyung’s company Dunamu, which is the holding company behind UPbit, started out in 2012 as an online news aggregator but quickly moved into Fintech, where it has had real success.
7.8
Score7.8
Score Android
Score iPhone
LocationSeoul, Korean
Currencies
LanguagesKR
Buy withKRW
Fees0.25%
AltcoinsYes
Margin tradingNo (Exchange does not support margin trading)
Trust scoreB
Beginner friendlyNo (Exchange is complex and difficult for beginners)
Stability3. Much (Exchange is stable, but it has a downtime in the high stakes)
FiatNo (The Exchange does not support Fiat currency like USD, EUR, etc ...)
Support speedFew days (Technical support responds within a few days)
APINo (The Exchange does not have an API)
Rest APINo (The Exchange does not have an API)
WebsocketNo (The Exchange does not have Websocket)
Mobile appYes (Exchange has a mobile app)
Credit cardNo (Exchange does not support credit cards)
ReferralNo (Exchange does not offer an affiliate program)
Two factor authentificationYes (The Exchange supports two factor authentication)
LendingNo (Exchange does not support lending)
Stop limitNo (Exchange does not support stop limit)
US licenceNo (Exchange don't have US licence for Money transmitter)
PGP supportNo (Exchange does not have PGP encryption)Through Dunamu, UPbit partnered with Kakao Corp., a publically listed internet giant that holds stakes in numerous products including South Korea’s most popular online music streaming service as well as owning apps such as the hugely popular Kakaotalk instant messaging service. The alliance between Dunamu and Kakao dares back to KakaoStock, a mobile stock trading app which leverages Kakao’s instant messaging base of 50 million. The exchange is also partnered with US-based exchange Bittrex, also one of the world’s biggest. 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. With Kakao also offering an increasingly popular online banking app and Kakao Pay, the country’s second most popular mobile payments app, the ways in which UPbit might in future leverage the exchange’s backers means it is likely to remain a dominant force, at least in South Korea. And as the world’s biggest national cryptocurrency market, it’s not a bad one to dominate.
Exchange Platform
At least for the moment, Upbit’s website and exchange platform are only available in Korean, which will, of course, limit the attraction for an international audience. However, the Google translation is pretty good and means that the site and exchange platform can be navigated through reasonably comfortably in English, and presumably other languages. The more significant barrier for international users is that to register and trade with the exchange the same process is applied as to South Koreans and it’s pretty geo-specific. KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay accounts are required for login as names verification by a South Korean mobile carrier. Basically, if you don’t live in South Korea, opening up an account with UPbit would require an inordinate effort.
The desktop and mobile app versions of the exchange platform closely resemble the KakaoStock platforms and are essentially a version of the same platform adapted to cryptocurrencies trading. This does mean that the technology is built to a very high level in terms of design, usability, and functionality.
Manuals for Upbit
Security rating of Upbit
As might be imagined for a cryptocurrency exchange backed by one of South Korea’s real internet and Fintech giants in Kakao, cyber security levels protecting UPbit traders are significant. Wallets are secured by BitGo, widely recognized as the global standard in multi-signature wallets and favored by many of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges internationally. Account security is in partnership with Kakao Pay, the mobile payments app owned by partner Kakao Corp., and a leader on the South Korean market, second only to Samsung Pay. It’s safe to say the Upbit’s cybersecurity standards are hard to beat.
Review of Upbit
It’s not by coincidence that UPbit has become the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world and, according to CoinMarketCap data, the fifth largest in the world by daily turnover within a matter of months. The exchange has arguably the most serious backing in the world in the form of Kakao Corp., the South Korean internet giant and the partnership with Bittrex, the major US exchange, that allowed well over cryptocurrencies to be supported, has also gone a long way to quickly establishing the exchange among the global elite.
From a technology and security point of view, UPbit has few rivals and the range of tradable coins is also up there with the best. The one drawback is that UPbit is very much a South Korean exchange and setting up an account and trading is difficult for anyone of a different nationality.
