Upbit Opens Korea's First Cryptocurrency Index

Dunamu, the operator of the Upbit cryptocurrency exchange, announced on May 9 that it has officially opened the Upbit Cryptocurrency Index (UBCI).

The index is designed to help investors grasp the movements of the cryptocurrency market at a quick glance. It is calculated and provided by Upbit.

The UBCI comes in 45 different kinds of index under four broad categories – the market index, theme index, strategy index and reference index.

Of the four categories, only the first three are available this time, with the reference index slated to come in June.

The market index offers seven different indices, while the theme index has 36 indices and the strategy index two sub-indices. The reference index also offers two indices.

The market index is calculated in real time using trade data on cryptocurrencies listed on the Upbit Exchange. The seven indices consist of four composite market indices designed to capture the changes in the total capitalization of the domestic cryptocurrency market and the total market cap of the cryptocurrencies listed on the Upbit Exchange, and three general market indices designed to track the performances of actual cryptocurrency investors.

Upbit has formed an index committee with internal and external experts to improve the reliability of its indices. The committee will check the fairness and conformity of the indices, add new ones, and assign new assets to themes among others.

The standard date for the calculation of the Upbit index is October 1, 2017, and the start time is UTC + 0, which corresponds to 9:00 a.m. in the Korean standard time.

“The UBCI will become a standard in observing the whole cryptocurrency market,” said Lee Seok-woo, president of Dunamu. “We will improve it in terms of technology and management to make it a representative index not only in the Korean market but in the global market."