Upbit has been named the No. 1 most trusted cryptocurrency operator in Korea and ranked 4th globally by Forbes. Forbes evaluated the internal controls and security capabilities of 646 companies, as provided by global market monitoring site CoinGecko, and announced the final ranking of 20 companies.
For this evaluation, Forbes analyzed the following aspects of global cryptocurrency exchanges: Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings (20%), regulatory compliance (20%), transparency (15%), financial health (15%), transaction fees (10%), corporate and institutional clients (5%), average daily spot trading volume (5%), average daily derivatives trading volume (5%), and cryptocurrency-based products (5%).
In this assessment, Upbit scored 7.4 out of 10 points, earning a higher score than major U.S. exchanges Coinbase, CME Group, and Robinhood. Forbes highly rated Upbit’s transparency, low transaction fees, and financial health. Forbes stated, “Upbit provides low transaction fees to its users and serves as Korea’s representative exchange (Korea’s Coinbase).”
Meanwhile, Forbes excluded Binance from the rankings despite its status as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume due to legal and regulatory issues. Binance has faced legal risks in the U.S. for violations such as the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) law, unlicensed money transmission, and sanctions violations, resulting in an agreement to pay $4.3 billion in compensation. Over the past three years, Binance has been expelled from at least 17 countries, including major markets such as India, the UK, and Japan. Forbes cited these legal and regulatory problems as the main reasons for Binance’s exclusion.
Forbes’ evaluation indicates that Upbit has secured a high level of trust in the global cryptocurrency market. This is expected to be a positive signal to domestic and international investors. It will be interesting to see what achievements Upbit will showcase in the global market in the future.
