It was revealed that 3 out of 10 virtual assets listed on the 5 major domestic won market exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone, and GOPAX) for nearly 7 years have been delisted. There are claims that listing standards and procedures should be improved to prevent financial damage to investors.
According to data submitted by Rep. Lee Heon-seung of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, to the five major virtual asset exchanges on the 24th, 517 (34.9%) of the 1,482 virtual assets listed on Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX from January 2018 to August of this year were delisted. More than half of them, 279, were delisted in less than two years. The average listing period of the 517 delisted virtual assets was 748 days (2 years and 18 days).
The problem is that investors are solely responsible for the losses caused by price fluctuations during the listing and delisting of virtual assets. In the case of Cent (Enterbutton) coin, it was listed only on Bithumb. The price of the coin plummeted by about 90% in the five months from its listing in July last year to November. After being designated as a ‘stock requiring investment caution’ by Bithumb in April this year, it fell by an additional 82%.
Two months later, in June of this year, when Bithumb announced the 'delisting (end of trading support)', the price fell by another 53%. Immediately after the injunction lawsuit for the suspension of the decision to terminate trading support for the Cent Project operator was accepted, the price soared by another 1,400%. After the injunction lawsuit for the termination of trading support (delisting) was dismissed, Cent is scheduled to be delisted on the 25th of next month. In the process, the fee revenue that Bithumb earned from Cent coins over the past 1 year and 3 months is approximately 4.6 billion won.
The lawmaker said, “Virtual asset exchanges are collecting huge fees while increasing investor damage through poor listing reviews,” and added, “We need to improve the virtual asset listing standards and listing procedures to minimize investor damage and ensure transaction stability.”
