Dunamu, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange operator, is ready to accumulate a tax bill of a whopping KRW 1trn (USD 843m). This results from the most profitable year from Upbit’s buying and selling platforms.
According to Donga, Dunamu announced that its cumulative operating profits rose to USD 2.2bn in the first nine months of this year.
The road to the high profits
Crypto trading in South Korea faced a still period in 2018-2019 following a boom in 2017. The trading was also slow-moving in 2020. However, at the start of 2021, Crypto Fever 2.0 established itself in the country. Its influence in South Korea is now huge that the crypto-keen investors could determine next year’s presidential elections.
But the biggest winners of all this have been arguably Upbit—which swept past the former market leader, Bithumb and became the nation’s major trading platform this year. The neobank K-Bank partnered with Upbit to give genuine name-authenticated banking companies. This has seen its customer base rise as a direct result.
Lee Seok-woo, Dunamu’s CEO, showed that the sales volumes had risen in the year to “nearly x28”. Upbit’s account holder has “almost tripled” in one year. It rose from 3 million in October last year to nearly 9 million at the close of October this year.
Dunamu Eyeing expansion to US
Lee Seok-woo avoided talking about the possibility of Dunamu listing in New York Stock Exchange. He said that they had “no specific plans” to open up to the world or remain private.
Previously, market analysts argued that Dunamu is too large to be listed locally. They predicted New York as the preferred landing place for Dunamu’s Initial Public Offering (IPO).
But the firm has set its vision on overseas expansion, and the United States as its center of attention. The company aims to make a plan for both “virtual and real-world assets”. It also plans to pursue Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and metaverse-related business.
The agency further stated that it was pursuing a joint venture within the US involving Hybe, the expertise company behind the worldwide chart-topping boy band BTS.
Lee Seok-woo said, “As much as we have received strong interest locally, we hope to grow into a well-recognized company in the global market as well. An important step will be the launch of a joint venture with Hybe in the US next year.”
