South Korea’s largest crypto change, Upbit, is aggressively increasing listings, including almost one new token per day in September. Analysts say the technique goals to guard its market dominance within the nation, as rival Bithumb narrows the hole to inside 5%.
Amid this race, delistings have additionally surged to report highs, elevating considerations over investor safety.
Upbit Ramps Up Listings to Defend Market Lead
On Wednesday, Upbit listed Linea (LINEA). Just lately, Upbit additionally added Pump.Enjoyable (PUMP), Holoworld AI (HOLO), OpenLedger (OPEN), Worldcoin (WLD), Flock.io (FLOCK), and RedStone (RED). That introduced seven new tokens in simply 11 days—already greater than its complete listings in August.
Upbit had historically adopted a conservative itemizing strategy in contrast with rivals. In accordance with a neighborhood media report, nonetheless, the change has shifted course after Bithumb started closing the market share hole.
The highest 10 most-traded cash on the Upbit on September 11 / Supply: CoinGecko
For instance, WLD, beforehand traded on Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit, greater than doubled in a single week, pushing Bithumb’s market share to 46% on Tuesday. Upbit shortly countered, asserting a WLD itemizing at 7 pm and launching buying and selling two hours later.
Knowledge from the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), an affiliation of Korean crypto exchanges, exhibits that as of late August, Bithumb listed 406 tokens—roughly 1.5 occasions greater than Upbit’s 260. CoinGecko figures place Bithumb’s market share at 46%, in contrast with Upbit’s 50.6%.
신규 디지털 자산 월드코인(WLD) 거래지원 안내
✅ 지원 마켓: KRW, BTC, USDT 마켓
📅 거래지원 개시 시점 : 2025-09-09 21:30 KST 예정🔗 공지 바로가기:https://t.co/TvTsvaEnhQ#Upbit #WLD@worldcoin pic.twitter.com/epzli7FntI
— Upbit Korea (@Official_Upbit) September 9, 2025
The 2 exchanges have lengthy dominated Korea’s crypto market. Bithumb briefly overtook Upbit in late 2023 by a zero-fee buying and selling marketing campaign however shortly misplaced the lead. Analysts notice the present problem is extra important, as Bithumb’s beneficial properties got here with out particular promotions.
From January to August 2025, common day by day buying and selling quantity reached $3.2 billion (₩4.4 trillion) on Upbit and $1.2 billion (₩1.6 trillion) on Bithumb, totaling $4.4 billion (₩6 trillion). That determine almost doubled from $2.2 billion (₩2.9 trillion) a yr earlier.
Itemizing Race Sparks Investor Safety Fears
Business consultants warn that the extraordinary competitors for itemizing tokens might weaken due diligence. Accelerated critiques threat approving property that fail to satisfy necessities. Within the second half of 2025 alone, Korea’s 5 largest won-based exchanges delisted 25 tokens, lots of which have been lower than a yr previous.
Upbit has stepped up delistings alongside listings. It eliminated 10 tokens in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 11 within the first eight months of 2025, its highest complete. Bithumb delisted 26, 19, and 20 tokens throughout the identical intervals, sustaining about 20 removals yearly. Upbit’s delisting ratio jumped from 8% to 24%, whereas Bithumb’s eased from 24% to 21%.
An business official, who requested anonymity, stated, “With South Korea’s market restricted to identify buying and selling, itemizing growth has turn out to be the one aggressive software. Stricter laws satirically gas fiercer itemizing battles, eroding investor safety.” He signifies that South Korean laws limit exchanges to identify buying and selling solely, prohibiting derivatives and different merchandise.
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