Korean Crypto Exchanges Suffer $361 Million in First-Half Losses

The four largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea suffered significant losses in the first half of the year. Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, posted a comprehensive loss of $262 million, while Bithumb swung to a net loss of $79 million.

The losses were largely due to lower trading volume and falling coin prices. The value of digital assets on the exchanges' books also declined sharply, with Dunamu's book value of its holdings dropping to 1.64 trillion won at the end of June from 2.3326 trillion won at the end of last year.

However, industry officials are hopeful that conditions will improve in the second half as crypto prices rebound and trading volume recovers. Competition among exchanges over zero trading fees is also spreading, with DigitalX waiving trading fees for all tokens in Korbit's won market and Coinone making trading free for all tokens.

The combined losses of the four exchanges total about $361 million in the first half, according to industry estimates. Dunamu applies K-IFRS, while Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit use K-GAAP, which can lead to different valuation gains and losses when prices move.