[딜사이트 이태웅 기자] The management activities of Korbit, a domestic won exchange, have recently shown signs of slowing down. After the enforcement of the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users (hereinafter referred to as the Virtual Asset User Protection Act), transaction support (listing) for new coins was stopped and a passive business strategy was implemented. Some in the exchange industry are also analyzing that Korbit is trying to overcome the threshold for reviewing virtual asset business license renewal reports, which has been strengthened in line with the implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. In response to this, Korbit expressed its position that it is continuing a conservative listing policy in line with the authorities’ expectations to form a healthy virtual asset market.
According to the virtual asset industry on the 17th, the five major Korean won exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, have been newly distributing coins through the won market and coin market since the Virtual Asset User Protection Act was implemented in July of this year. The number of pairs was 40. Upbit, the exchange with the largest domestic market share, decided to distribute 24 new trading pairs, including Carb, Wormhole, and Cat in a Dog’s World, while Bithumb traded 8 trading pairs, including Eigenlayer, UXLink, and Solana Name. Supports. Coinone and Gopax conducted listings for 9 and 2 coins, respectively.
What stands out is that there were no new listings of Korbit during the same period. The company decided to support transactions for six types of coins, including Banar Chain, Ionet, Hippocrat, Altlayer, GK Sync, and Layer Zero, for the month of June, and on July 18 before the implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. As of today, five types of coins have been newly listed, including Open Campus, Omni Network, Pixels, Renzo, and Threshold, but as of now, 3 months after the enforcement of the law, the number of newly listed coins is ‘0’. In addition, considering that of the 11 types of coins newly supported for trading in the second half of this year, the remaining 10 types of coins, excluding Banar Chain, are already being traded on other exchanges, and there is an assessment that the company is adopting a conservative listing policy.
The problem is that concerns are growing about Korbit’s growth potential as it reveals a passive management stance. The main source of revenue for virtual asset exchanges is user transaction fees. Accordingly, the recent move to stop trading support for new virtual assets will inevitably lead to worsening performance. The fact that the company’s sales over the past three years (2021-2023) is rapidly decreasing in the order of ▲22.6 billion won in 2021, ▲4.3 billion won in 2022, and ▲1.7 billion won in 2023 is also a background for concerns about growth potential.
Some say that one of the reasons Korbit was reluctant to support new transactions was the strengthening of regulations by financial authorities. According to the exchange industry, financial authorities such as the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit and the Financial Supervisory Service have strengthened requirements for business license renewal in line with the enforcement of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. In fact, according to the ‘Virtual Asset Business Reporting Manual’ announced by the financial authorities in July, exchanges are required to ▲ report Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification ▲ issue deposit/withdrawal accounts with real name verification ▲ disqualify business representatives and executives You must report on the coin status. In addition, there is an obligation to report whether an abnormal transaction detection system has been established, such as abnormal price changes of listed coins, and the status of the internal organization.
An official at the exchange said, “I know that the financial authorities have emphasized throughout the industry that supplementation of abnormal transaction detection systems such as ‘listing beam (a sudden increase in price immediately after listing)’ was needed through a recent on-site investigation,” and “the situation at other exchanges.” “It is not appropriate to comment on this, but I think it would have been burdensome for Korbit, which is about to report for virtual asset business renewal, that the regulations on abnormal transaction detection and unfair transactions have been strengthened,” he said.
In response to this, a Korbit official said, “As the Virtual Asset User Protection Act was implemented, we did not proceed with new listings to focus on protecting investors and purifying the virtual asset ecosystem. We are continuing our conservative listing policy, but we are not accepting transactions for new virtual assets.” “It does not mean that we will completely stop providing support, and we are continuing to operate other businesses other than listing without disruption,” he said.
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