Upbit（업비트）/ Dunamu — Korean KRW spot CEX overview

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This entry sits under exchanges index. Read it against Korea's 5 major CEX regimes compared — Upbit / Bithumb / Coinone / Korbit / GOPAX for the Korea peer / regulatory context, Bithumb for a close peer comparison, and global CEX top 10 comparison for the broader global market context.

Launched 2017-10 · Korean KRW spot CEX operated by Dunamu · K-Bank（케이뱅크）real-name accounts · ISMS-P certification

1. Legal entity / shareholders

• Trade name (operating company): 주식회사 두나무（Dunamu Inc.）
• Founded: 2012-04（started as a mobile securities-information service）
• Head-office location: 서울특별시 강남구
• Exchange-service trade name: Upbit（업비트）（operated by Dunamu）
• Major shareholders / capital relationships:
  • 카카오 / Kakao group: deep relationship as an early investor, via Kakao Investment / Kakao Ventures
  • 하나금융그룹 / Hana Financial Group: strategic partnership / shareholding
  • 한화투자증권 / Hanwha Investment & Securities: shareholding
  • 케이뱅크 / K-Bank: real-name-account contractual partner, with a cross-shareholding relationship（Upbit is one of K-Bank’s major shareholders, 1 ）
  • Naver relationship: ecosystem collaboration rather than a direct capital relationship（adjacency via Naver Pay / Naver Cloud, etc.）

2. Registration / license status (Korea regime)

• 가상자산사업자 (VASP) registration: registered with the FIU（2021-09 Korea’s Phase-1 registration class）
• ISMS / ISMS-P certification: holds KISA’s enhanced（강화）ISMS-P（requirement for operators above the 100 억원 trading-volume threshold）
• 실명확인 입출금 계정（real-name verified deposit/withdrawal account）: a contract with 케이뱅크（K-Bank）
• For the detailed regime, see Korea's 5 major CEX regimes compared — Upbit / Bithumb / Coinone / Korbit / GOPAX

3. Listed assets

• The assets available in the KRW spot market change; verify them in the current official market list
• A BTC market（BTC-quoted）and a USDT market are also operated alongside
• Listing review: DAXA common criteria + Upbit’s own criteria（보다 더 stricter）
• Verify current listing and delisting status in the official market list and notices

4. Scope of business

• Spot trading（KRW / BTC / USDT 3 markets）
• Derivatives / margin trading: not offered under Korea’s VASP regulation
• NFT marketplace（Upbit NFT, 2021 launch）
• Staking: limited（custodial staking, under regulatory constraints）
• Fiat deposits: only via K-Bank real-name accounts

5. Market share / trading volume

Market share, 24-hour volume, rankings, and company valuation vary by timestamp and methodology, so this static entry does not freeze them. Comparisons should use the same provider, measurement time, and market definition; verify account eligibility and KYC in the current official terms.

6. History / major events

Source: The entire table is based on Dunamu’s blockchain service profile, the Financial Services Commission’s filing-acceptance announcement, and KoFIU’s virtual-asset service provider filing status, checked on 2026-07-29.

7. Strategic trends

• K-Bank exclusive relationship: single-point dependence on the real-name account is a long-term risk factor. On the other hand, the two companies’ cross-holding of capital underpins a relationship-stabilizing structure
• Naver / Kakao ecosystem relationship: secures domestic Korean user access through loose collaboration with Korean IT giants
• 하나금융 / 한화 relationship: secures channels for dealing with Korean authorities / regulation through strategic partnerships with traditional financial institutions
• Global expansion: Upbit Singapore（2018 launch, later scaled back）, plus overseas footprints such as Upbit Indonesia / Thailand. However, the scale is small relative to the Korean parent
• 2024 User-Protection-Act response: contributions to the user-protection fund, strengthened monitoring of unfair trading, and rebuilding of internal controls

8. Industry positioning

Evaluate Upbit’s industry position by combining KoFIU filing status, the current official market scope, and trading volumes captured at the same timestamp. Do not infer a permanent rank or monopoly from historical share figures; see korea-cex-five-pillars-comparison for the regulatory comparison.

Related

• cex-bithumb-korea — Korean peer comparison（most important cross-link）
• korea-cex-five-pillars-comparison — comparison of Korea’s 5 major CEX regimes
• global-cex-top10-comparison — global CEX top 10
• global-vasp-regulatory-comparison-matrix — global VASP regulatory comparison
• INDEX — exchange-domain index
• jp-exchange-bitflyer — Japan CEX comparison reference
• jp-exchange-sbi-vc-trade — Japan CEX comparison reference

Sources

• Compilation of public information（Dunamu Inc. official IR / 회사 소개）
• Compilation of public information（Upbit official site, upbit.com）
• Compilation of public information（FSC / FIU 가상자산사업자 등록 public list）
• Compilation of public information（K-Bank / 케이뱅크 실명확인 입출금 계정 reporting）
• Compilation of public information（DAXA 자율규제 협의체 announcements）
• Compilation of public information（Dunamu shareholder-composition / 상장 검토 reporting, Korea Herald / 코인데스크 코리아 / 매일경제）
• Compilation of public information（reporting on the 가상자산이용자보호법 2024-07 enforcement）
• Compilation of public information（reporting on the 2019-11 Upbit ETH hot-wallet outflow incident, 코인데스크 코리아）