Virtual asset exchanges are making a bid to break Upbit’s dominance in the domestic virtual asset industry. Bithumb is raising its market share to 30% through an adventurous policy of ‘lowest fees in the industry’ and is challenging Upbit as a competitor.
According to CoinGecko, a virtual asset statistics analysis company, on the 16th, the 24-hour trading volume by exchange as of 2 p.m. was △Upbit $472.26 million (about KRW 656 billion) △Bithumb $249.93 million (KRW 347.1 billion) △ Coinone is $16.12 million (KRW 22.4 billion), Korbit is $5.38 million (KRW 7.4 billion), and Gopax is $3.07 million (KRW 4.2 billion).
Calculating this in terms of market share, Upbit ranked first with 63%. Bithumb followed with 33%. This is the level at which Bithumb, which recorded a market share of less than 20% due to the abolition of the free commission policy on February 5, has increased its market share to 30% in four months. At that time, Upbit recorded a market share of 77% as a result. However, Coinone's market share was 2%, the same as 4 months ago, and Korbit and Gopax's market share was only less than 1%.
In fact, the domestic virtual asset industry appears to be competing for market share with both Upbit and Bithumb. The reason behind Bithumb's increase in market share is the industry's lowest commission policy implemented since last month. Bithumb’s transaction fee is 0.04%, which is lower than Upbit’s 0.05%.
Bithumb is not the only company making efforts to prevent Upbit’s dominance. Last May, Coinone held an event where it gave WEMIX coins worth 300 million won to just one winner. However, from the investor's perspective, the industry evaluated that fee-related policies, rather than temporary events, were the answer to securing market share in the long term.
However, other virtual asset exchanges are reluctant to take action. This is because it is not easy to lower the commission, which is the company's only profit, compared to Bithumb. This is because exchanges other than Upbit and Bithumb do not have sufficient capital.
An official at a virtual asset exchange said, “In the case of Bithumb, we can pursue the lowest commission policy because we have sufficient capital, but other exchanges will not be able to provide a commission-free policy or a lower commission rate than Bithumb,” adding, “Most small-scale exchanges are prone to capital erosion. “It’s close,” he said.
