Slowly but surely, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are gaining traction in different regions around the world. South Korea could prove to be an important ally on the road to mass cryptocurrency adoption. Several exchanges are active in this market, although not all of them are known by the public. We have listed four of the main platforms serving customers in South Korea.
4. Yapizon
This fairly unknown Bitcoin exchange has been around for quite some time now. Unfortunately, they only made media headlines due to a recent hack affecting the platform. Over 3,000 bitcoins were lost, and Yapizon was forced to reduce user balances by a sizable amount to recover the losses. A reward program has been put in place to compensate affected users moving forward, though.
3. Coinone
Another relatively unknown cryptocurrency exchange operating in South Korea goes by the name of Coinone. The company offers three main trading markets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic. All of these currencies can be traded against the Korean Won, but not against one another. It does appear the exchange is doing quite well, though, as it generates a fair bit of volume every single day.
As we have come to see from other exchanges focusing only on fiat currency trading markets, the maker-taker fee structure depends on how much volume is traded. In the western world, a similar tactic is employed by platforms such as Kraken. It will be interesting to see if Coinone decides to add other currencies and trading pairs to its platform in the future. For now, South Korea seems very keen on ETH, ETC, and BTC, that much is evident.
2. Korbit
One of the oldest Korean exchanges goes by the name of Korbit. The platform has built up a solid reputation over the years, mainly due to being the first BTC/KRW exchange in history. As time progressed, the company decided to add Ethereum and Ethereum Classic to its trading market as well. Interestingly enough, the platform also lists Monero, Litecoin, and XRP, although they are not “openly advertised”, so to speak. It looks as if all of the supported currencies can only be traded against the Korean Won as well.
1. Bithumb
Although very few people had heard about this exchange just a few months ago, things have changed quite a bit ever since. Bithumb has quickly become one of the most dominant cryptocurrency markets in all of South Korea. That is quite an impressive feat, and it looks like the overall trading volume continues to grow every single week.
It is possible Bithumb will only become more popular ever since they recently added a Litecoin trading pair. Other supported currencies include Bitcoin Dash and Ethereum, both of which can be exchanged for the Korean Won. Bitcoin is the platform’s largest trading market for now, although Ethereum and Litecoin see decent daily volumes as well.
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