Volume of Virtual Asset Transactions Decreases
Korea's top four virtual asset exchanges -- Upbit, Bithumb, CoinOne, and Korbit – suffered a sharp drop in their sales in 2019. According to their audit reports, combined sales plunged from 902.4 billion won in 2018 to 299.5 billion won in 2019. The decline in their sales means that the volume of domestic virtual asset transactions decreased as their main income sources are trade commissions.
In fact, the four exchanges except CoinOne posted a sharp drop in operating profit compared to 2018. CoinOne’s audit report covers its business performance only for the second half of 2019. When its business results in the first half are counted, it probably suffered a drop in full-year operating profit.
Upbit posted 142.2 billion won in sales in 2019, about 70 percent down from 479.5 billion won in 2018. Its operating profit also plummeted to 42.2 billion won in 2019 from 285.2 billion won in 2018. As a result, a change was made in the two-runner race between Upbit and Bithumb. Upbit ranked first in 2018 in terms of sales, operating profit, and net profit, but it fell to second place in all areas in 2019.
CoinOne recorded 12 billion won in net loss even though it posted an operating profit. Its non-operating expenses increased significantly in 2019. In 2018, CoinOne launched CGEX, a virtual asset exchange in Indonesia and Malta, to expand its overseas exchange business, but they were all shut down, with loss from the investment counted as non-operating expenses.
In 2019, Korbit posted 3.7 billion won in sales, a significant decrease from 26.8 billion won in 2018. However, by reducing fixed costs such as labor cost and monthly rents, the exchange cut operating costs by half. As a result, Korbit recorded a deficit of 12.8 billion won in 2019, which represented an improvement from a net loss of 45.7 billion won in 2018.
Bithumb recorded a net loss of 205.7 billion won in 2018 but turned to a surplus by achieving a net income of 37.2 billion won in 2019. Its sales decreased by more than 60 percent to 144.6 billion won compared to 391.6 billion won in 2018.