South Korean Exchanges Abandoned by Bitcoin Traders

Eight out of South Korea's 11 coin-market cryptocurrency exchanges have failed to record a single Bitcoin trade in the past two years, according to an analysis by The Seoul Economic Daily. This raises questions about whether these exchanges still function as legitimate trading platforms.

The review found that eight exchanges, Flybit, BTX, Prabang, Bitkmon, Coredax, Crypto.com, Boravit, and Oasis Exchange, had no Bitcoin trades over the past two years. The three exchanges that did record some volume had minimal trading activity: Enex traded 0.1 Bitcoins in a week, Foblgate traded roughly 0.00006 coins, and Bible saw no trades.

Industry observers suspect that some of these exchanges may be engaging in wash trading to create the illusion of activity. Even without any real trading, keeping a site open and posting notices or content can give the impression of normal business operations.

Maintaining a presence is particularly useful for selling the company, as prices for firms holding Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licenses have been climbing again. Some exchanges that had cut their asking prices to 5 billion won during the market slump are now seeking around 20 billion won, roughly four times that level.