How Sharp Was The First-Half Decline? South Korea’s two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, reported steep declines in first-half revenue and profit as weaker digital asset p
How Sharp Was The First-Half Decline?
South Korea’s two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, reported steep declines in first-half revenue and profit as weaker digital asset prices and lower trading activity cut into their core businesses. Upbit parent Dunamu reported consolidated operating revenue of 408.1 billion won ($289 million) for the first half of 2026, down 49.1% from 801.9 billion won ($568 million) a year earlier, according to its regulatory filing. Operating profit dropped 79.7% to 111.5 billion won ($79 million) from 549.1 billion won ($389 million), while net profit fell 74.1% to 108.4 billion won ($77 million). Bithumb reported a similar contraction. First-half operating revenue fell 48.7% to 168.8 billion won ($120 million) from 329.2 billion won ($233 million), while operating profit dropped 83.4% to 14.9 billion won ($11 million) from 90.1 billion won ($64 million).
Bithumb also swung to a net loss of 108.7 billion won ($77 million), compared with a 55 billion won ($39 million) profit a year earlier. Almost all of its revenue continued to come from platform trading fees, leaving earnings highly exposed to changes in customer activity.
Why Did South Korea’s Crypto Market Slow?
The downturn followed a weak first half for major cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell more than 30%, dropping from roughly $90,000 at the beginning of 2026 to around $60,000 by the end of June. Ethereum declined from about $3,000 to roughly $1,600 over the same period. The market also faced delays to the Clarity Act, the sale of Bitcoin holdings by Strategy and substantial outflows from U.S. crypto exchange-traded funds. Together, weaker prices and reduced liquidity weighed on investor activity across major trading venues. “The recent decline in performance is attributed to a contraction in liquidity across the global digital asset market, which has led to a weakening of investor sentiment,” Dunamu said. South Korea also experienced a strong rotation into domestic equities. The benchmark KOSPI more than doubled during the first half of 2026, led by semiconductor companies Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as demand for AI-related memory chips accelerated. That rally competed directly with cryptocurrencies for retail capital. The five fully licensed domestic exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb,
Coinone, Korbit and Gopax — recorded combined second-quarter trading volume of $146.43 billion, down 49.5% from a year earlier, according to market data.
Investor Takeaway
The earnings decline shows how dependent South Korean exchanges remain on trading activity. With local investors shifting money toward equities, Upbit and Bithumb face pressure to diversify their businesses before pursuing public listings.
Why Are Upbit And Bithumb Restructuring Now?
Both companies are using the downturn to reshape their ownership structures and prepare for future listings rather than relying solely on a recovery in crypto trading volumes. Dunamu is working through a share-swap transaction with Naver Financial that would make the Upbit operator a wholly owned subsidiary of the fintech arm of South Korea’s largest internet company. Once the transaction is completed, the combined business plans to pursue a public listing, potentially on Nasdaq, within five years. Traditional financial and industrial groups have also taken stakes in Dunamu. Hana Financial Group acquired a 6.55% holding for about 1 trillion won ($708 million) and agreed to work with Dunamu on won-backed stablecoins, blockchain remittances and other digital asset services. Three Samsung affiliates later acquired a combined 4% stake for roughly 613 billion won ($434 million). Those investments give Dunamu closer links to some of South Korea’s largest financial and technology groups as the company broadens beyond exchange trading.
Can Bithumb Keep Its 2028 IPO Plan On Track?
Bithumb is separately preparing for an IPO targeted for 2028 after earlier listing schedules were delayed. Its current roadmap calls for strengthening internal controls during 2026 before submitting a preliminary listing review in 2027. The exchange is also seeking outside capital and international growth. Kiwoom Securities entered talks in June to acquire a stake through a third-party allotment of newly issued shares, while Bithumb signed a partnership with SSI Digital in May as part of plans to expand into Vietnam. The first-half loss could make profitability a bigger issue as Bithumb moves closer to the listing process. Investors evaluating an exchange business are likely to focus not only on trading volume but also on whether revenue sources can withstand prolonged periods of weaker crypto activity. Upbit faces a similar test despite remaining profitable. Its revenue and earnings declines show that market leadership does not fully protect an exchange when turnover falls across the sector. The next phase for both companies will therefore depend on more than a crypto price recovery. Their IPO ambitions increasingly rest on whether new shareholders, financial partnerships, overseas expansion and non-trading businesses can reduce their exposure to the sharp swings in domestic digital asset activity.
