What Is Upbit? South Korea's Crypto Exchange Explained

Dunamu Inc. operates Upbit. The site footer lists its Seoul headquarters, CEO Oh Kyung-suk and its Korean virtual asset service provider (VASP) registration, number 2021-01 ¹. The copyright line dates the service to 2017 ¹.

Naver deal. On November 26, 2025, Naver Financial, the fintech arm of Korean internet company Naver, disclosed an all-stock deal to make Dunamu its wholly owned subsidiary. Dunamu shareholders would get about 2.54 Naver Financial shares per Dunamu share, valuing the deal at about 15.13 trillion won ($10.28 billion) ¹³. The original effective date was June 30, 2026. It slipped after a lengthy Korea Fair Trade Commission review and a correction order from the Financial Supervisory Service on Dunamu's disclosure ¹⁴. As of October 7, 2026, the share exchange is set for March 31, 2027, with the shareholder vote moved to February 26, 2027 ¹⁵. Until it closes, Dunamu remains independent.

Related exchanges. Upbit Singapore, Upbit Indonesia and Upbit Thailand operate as separate exchanges. Upbit Korea lists them among the outside platforms it will transfer funds to and from ². This profile covers Upbit Korea.

Upbit is built for Korean residents. Its terms let the company refuse sign-ups from non-residents, foreign corporations and minors. The same applies to nationals or residents of countries on Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit risk lists ⁶. Each person may hold one account ⁶.

To deposit or withdraw won, you must link a real-name verified bank account. Cash moves only between that account and Upbit's account at the same bank ⁶. The limits page refers to K Bank "limit accounts," which have lower caps ². KRW transfers also require two-channel authentication ². For a US reader, Upbit is mostly a reference point for Korean won prices, not a platform you can join.

Upbit runs three markets ⁵:

• KRW market: buy and sell assets for Korean won.
• BTC market: assets priced in bitcoin.
• USDT market: assets priced in Tether.

Daily candles and percentage changes reset at 00:00 UTC, which is 09:00 in Korea ⁵.

Order types include limit, market, reserved (stop-style), best-limit with IOC or FOK, and TWAP, which splits a large order over time ⁵. Orders fill by price, then time. Market orders larger than the visible order book can be rejected ⁵. See order types for definitions.

As of October 23, 2026, Upbit's fee page lists ³:

A temporary promotion cuts BTC- and USDT-market fees to 0.05% and makes API maker orders free ³. Fees include Korean VAT. On a buy they are added to the amount charged, and on a sell they are taken from the proceeds ³. For example, a 1,000,000 KRW buy on the KRW market at 0.05% costs 1,000,500 KRW. Promotions change, so check the fee page before trading. See trading fees.

Deposits are free. Withdrawals carry a flat fee per transaction that differs by asset and network ⁴. Transfers between Upbit users with the "instant withdrawal" feature are free ⁴. Selected withdrawal fees as of October 23, 2026 ⁴:

Limits for verified users with a linked account: KRW deposits up to 100 million won per transaction and 500 million won per day, with the same caps on KRW withdrawals ². Crypto withdrawals are capped at 100 million won per day without two-channel authentication and 5 billion won with it ².

Travel rule. For transfers of 1 million won or more, Upbit only deals with exchanges on its approved list or with personal wallets you have registered and verified ². It blocks transfers to and from a list of unregistered overseas exchanges, which as of August 31, 2026 included KuCoin, MEXC, BingX and Pionex ². Sending crypto to a platform that is not on the approved list can fail, so check the list before you send.

Upbit is custodial. It holds the private keys and owes you a balance. For the trade-offs, see CEX vs DEX.

Instead of on-chain proof of reserves, Upbit publishes a daily reconciliation page. It shows, for each listed asset, the ratio of coins in Upbit's wallets to coins owed to members. For October 22, 2026, it showed BTC at 100.0%, ETH at 100.1% and USDT at 102.3% ⁷. These figures come from Upbit itself and are not a third-party audit. They also cover assets only, not liabilities or company solvency.

On February 25, 2025, Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) imposed a three-month partial suspension on Dunamu. New Upbit users would have been barred from moving crypto in or out. The FIU cited transactions with unregistered overseas VASPs and customer due-diligence failures ¹¹. A court granted Dunamu an injunction on March 27, 2025, so the restriction never took effect ¹¹. On April 9, 2026, the Seoul Administrative Court cancelled the sanction, finding no intent or gross negligence ¹². Reports do not say whether the FIU appealed.

Upbit's customer center is on 1588-5682 on weekdays from 09:00 to 18:00 KST. A dedicated financial-incident line, 1533-1111, is staffed 24 hours a day. KakaoTalk chat is also available around the clock, and there is an in-person "Upbit Lounge" in Gangnam, Seoul ¹. Calls are charged ¹. Upbit staff will never ask for your password or one-time codes. Be wary of fake "Upbit support" accounts and lookalike sites. See fake exchange scams.