Upbit remains South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange, recording roughly $1.04 billion in spot trading volume over a 24-hour window as traders continue to jump on the crypto momentum train.

The figure exceeds the combined turnover of Upbit's three closest domestic rivals.

The recent Bitcoin rally has given the market a chance to rebound, pulling Korean retail money back onto local order books. The revival matters beyond the exchanges themselves: because trading fees make up the bulk of their revenue, volume swings of this size translate directly into the financial health of some of Korea's most prominent fintech firms.

Where does Upbit rank in the South Korean market?

Upbit, operated by Dunamu, handled about $1.04 billion in spot trading volume in just 24 hours, beating the combined volume of Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit.

Bithumb recorded around $632.6 million, Coinone about $67.9 million, and Korbit (now called Digital X) close to $11 million.

The surge in trading volume follows Bitcoin climbing past $80,000 in late August for the first time since mid-May. The price jump has encouraged Korean traders to put money back into local exchanges.

Upbit has operated since October 2017 and holds South Korea's first virtual asset service provider license. It lists over 180 tokens, while Bithumb, which launched in 2014, lists more than 440 assets.

Prior to the August 20 rally, Upbit's daily turnover had ranged between 300 billion and 600 billion won, but it briefly reached 4.61 trillion won by Saturday afternoon — almost ten times higher than a week earlier. Bithumb also cleared 2 trillion won in the same period.

Cryptopolitan separately reported that Upbit was up 273% in one day to about $1.84 billion, its busiest session since mid-March, with XRP the single most-traded token on both Upbit and Bithumb.

Presto Research analyst Min Jung described Korean traders as "return-chasers" who buy assets that are already rising.

The volume spike comes after a painful stretch for the industry. In the first half of 2026, Korea's top four crypto exchanges lost nearly 500 billion won ($364 million) combined, as falling cryptocurrency prices reduced the value of assets held by the exchanges and low trading activity meant fewer fees collected from traders.

Trading fees are the main revenue source for these exchanges, making up 96.91% of Dunamu's first-half revenue, which dropped by half compared to last year. Dunamu's operating profit fell 79.7% year-on-year in the first half, while Bithumb's declined even more, at 83.4%. That heavy dependence on fee income helps explain why a single rally week can move exchange finances so sharply — and why smaller platforms are now competing so aggressively on fees.

Cryptopolitan reported that first-half trading across Korean exchanges sank 54.6% from last year to $366.58 billion. Much of this was because money flowed into Korea's stock market instead, which hit record highs on strong performance from companies like Samsung and SK Hynix.

How are smaller exchanges trying to compete with Upbit?

With trading activity returning, smaller exchanges are waiving fees to attract regular traders, and some exchanges may be struggling financially. The fee war underscores a wider structural issue in the Korean market: with one dominant platform taking the lion's share of volume, rivals must sacrifice their main revenue stream simply to stay visible — a strategy that previous attempts suggest is hard to sustain.

Coinone said it would scrap trading fees on all listed coins until further notice, while Digital X (Korbit) launched zero-fee trading across its own market through August 2027.

Since the change, Digital X's average hourly trading volume jumped 36 times, from 270 million won to 9.8 billion won. However, 87% of this increase came from trading just one stablecoin, RLUSD, which the exchange distributed to large traders during a special event.

Coinone saw its trading volume triple to 8.2 billion won per hour after going fee-free, but trading quickly returned to normal levels.

Bithumb tried a similar strategy with a 68-day fee-free period last year; although its trading volumes rose for a while, its market share never broke past 30%. It tried again for 7 days this February.

Upbit and Bithumb have so far only waived fees on some tokens. Upbit, for instance, dropped charges on stablecoins like Tether (USDT-USD) starting July 26.

Meanwhile, Digital X's parent company, Mirae Asset Financial Group, is in talks to buy Korbit for up to 140 billion won ($97.5 million). If completed, the deal would add a traditional financial conglomerate's backing to one of the country's smaller exchanges — a sign that consolidation, as much as fee promotions, may shape how the industry's lower tier survives.