South Korean Crypto Exchanges Pay 1.3 Billion Won in Disability Employment Levies

South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges have collectively paid over 1.3 billion won in disability employment levies for failing to meet mandatory hiring quotas for people with disabilities. Data from five major exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, DigitalX, and Gopax, revealed that these levies totaled 1.35143 billion won from 2021 to 2025. The disability employment levy is imposed when companies fall short of the required 3.10% employment rate for people with disabilities.

Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, paid the highest amount at 723.09 million won over five years. Despite meeting the quota last year due to counting severely disabled workers as double, the company faced annual levies from 2021 to 2024. Coinone paid 325.73 million won, with a disability employment rate as low as 0% in some years. DigitalX paid 184.6 million won, consistently failing to meet the quota and lacking concrete hiring plans.

Bithumb, despite having the highest disability employment rate among the exchanges, paid 54.83 million won in levies due to temporary fluctuations in employee numbers. Streami, the operator of Gopax, paid 63.18 million won in 2022 but avoided further levies after a reduction in staff following the 'Gopay incident'. Representative Park Dae-chul criticized the industry for treating the levies as a mere expense, urging companies to make voluntary efforts to fulfill their obligations.