Deposits Surge 1,370% for Past 15 Months
The Korean currency deposits in the nation's four main cryptocurrency exchanges -- UPbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit -- have increased more than 1,300 percent for the past 15 months.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the deposits in the major local cryptocurrency exchanges increased 1,368.2 percent from 626.9 billion won to 9,203.5 billion won from June last year to Sept. 24 this year.
The deposits exceeded one trillion won for the first time in July last year. The amount slightly fell to 951.4 billion won in September last year and 929.4 billion won in the following month. Then, it began to increase in November and reached 10.4011 trillion won and 10.7951 trillion won in April and May this year, respectively.
The number of user bank accounts connected to the exchanges increased from 836,847 to 7,336,819 from June last year to Sep. 24 this year. The exchanges’ bank fee payment increased along with the number of cryptocurrency investors. Specifically, the four major exchanges paid NH, Shinhan and K Banks approximately 7.05 billion won and more than 16.9 billion won in the first and second quarters of this year, respectively. For reference, the fee payment stood at 522 million won in the third quarter of last year.