In South Korea, the number of bank-verified accounts across the four major cryptocurrency exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit) has surpassed 6 million. Despite a decline in the number of active accounts last year, more than 1 million new accounts were added, reaching a total of 6,754,934 accounts, marking an 18.9% increase compared to the previous year. This growth is attributed to the influx of new investors, driven by anticipation of the U.S. financial authorities’ approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF, even amidst a market downturn.
With Upbit and Bithumb enforcing a policy against multiple accounts per user, leading to the implementation of a one-account-per-person rule, the account numbers, which once exceeded 7 million, were consolidated to 6.75 million after applying Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols and clearing out multiple accounts. Notably, the scale of Korean won deposits at the end of last year was recorded at 4.7948 trillion won, indicating at least a 33% increase from the previous year and suggesting a recovery in investment sentiment. The total Korean won deposits across the four exchanges had dropped from 7.8047 trillion won at the end of 2021 to around 3.6 trillion won by the end of 2022, but saw a return to growth last year.
Bithumb’s Korean won deposits surged by nearly 938 billion won within just ten days of the new year. However, the number of active accounts showed a declining trend, with accounts that traded at least once within the year dropping from 4,885,611 in 2022 to 3,508,031 in 2023.
Some exchanges have seen a significant increase in trading transactions following the implementation of a policy for completely free trading fees. Bithumb’s transaction count increased by 70% by the end of last year, although the transaction volume decreased by 24%. Korbit also saw both an increase in transaction count and volume after introducing free trading fees.
