Upbit’s trading volume has fallen below $4B after hitting an annual high in March
The 24-hour trading volume on Upbit, one of South Korea's largest crypto exchanges, fell to $3.8 billion in early April after peaking in early March.
On March 5, Upbit recorded a daily trading volume of nearly $15 billion, the exchange's highest trading volume this year.
The increase in daily trading volume of the crypto exchange can be attributed to Bitcoin reaching an all-time high of $69,200 on the same day.
The rush was driven primarily by large inflows into the new space of Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States.
While Bitcoin was trading below $70,000 in the rest of the world, the digital asset hit a new all-time high of 96,734,000 South Korean won (about $72,504) on Upbit on March 5 at 3:00 pm UTC.
This played a role in increasing daily trading on the exchange on March 5.
This price difference in South Korea compared to the rest of the world is commonly referred to as the “Kimchi Premium”. Named after the country's popular side dish, the kimchi premium refers to the difference in BTC price between Korean crypto exchanges and international crypto exchanges.
As of March 31, daily trading volume fell to $2.6 billion, but the upward trend was not sustained.
According to coin data tracker CoinGecko, Upbit's current 24-hour trading volume for April 1 is $3.8 billion.
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In the year By 2023, Upbit's parent company's net profit had dropped 81 percent. In the year On November 28, Upbit's owner Dunamu reported a profit of $23 million, which is significantly lower than the same period in 2022, when it earned about $123 million.
The company's low profits may be due to the “cold investment market” that resulted from the recession. He also pointed to lower prices of digital assets as one of the reasons for the decline in profits.
Despite the decline in Dunamu's profits in 2023, Upbit continues its business expansion efforts. On January 9, the exchange received a major payment institution license from the Central Bank of Singapore. This allows the company to offer crypto and fiat related services in Singapore.
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