Employees of Dunamu, the operator of the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, have received higher compensation in the first half of this year than those working in major domestic banks. In particular, Dunamu’s Chairman, Song Chi-hyung, received over 4.75 billion KRW in compensation, significantly outpacing the earnings of CEOs in the financial sector.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system, Chairman Song received 1.45 billion KRW in salary and 3.3 billion KRW in bonuses, totaling 4.75 billion KRW for the first half of this year. This is more than twice the amount received by the highest-paid bank CEO, Citibank Korea’s CEO Yoo Myung-soon, who earned 2.085 billion KRW.
Dunamu employees also saw a substantial increase in their compensation. The average compensation for Dunamu’s 601 employees in the first half of this year was 133.72 million KRW, more than double the 59.44 million KRW from the same period last year. This figure is also more than twice the average compensation of employees at the four major commercial banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori) for the first half of the year, which stood at 60.5 million KRW. Essentially, Dunamu employees have already surpassed the annual salary of bank employees within just the first six months of the year.
The surge in Dunamu’s compensation levels is attributed to the booming cryptocurrency market in the first quarter of this year. The price of Bitcoin surpassed 100 million KRW, leading to a significant increase in trading volumes and a corresponding boost in Dunamu’s performance. Dunamu’s revenue (operating income) for the first quarter of this year was 531.1 billion KRW, a 60.5% increase from the previous quarter.
However, the market momentum slowed in the second quarter, resulting in a decline in Dunamu’s performance. The company’s revenue dropped by 52% to 257 billion KRW in the second quarter, and operating profit decreased by 53% to 159 billion KRW.
Industry insiders note that the substantial bonuses at Dunamu were largely due to the cryptocurrency market’s strong performance in the first quarter. However, they caution that the market has cooled in the second quarter, and future trends should be closely monitored.
