Upbit profit collapsed in the second quarter. Operator Dunamu posted an 85% drop in operating profit as trading fees dried up at South Korea’s largest crypto exchange.
The filing landed three months after Samsung, Hana Bank and Hanwha spent about $1.5 billion buying into the company. Together they now hold close to a fifth of it.
Upbit Profit Margins Fall From 88% to 14%
Dunamu filed its half year report with South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service on Friday. Quarterly operating profit came to 23.5 billion won, roughly $17 million. A year earlier the figure was $108 million.
Revenue alone does not explain it. Second quarter revenue fell 39%. Operating costs went the other way and rose 13%.
The squeeze shows up in the margin. Back in 2021, Dunamu turned 88 won of every 100 won of revenue into operating profit. Last quarter it kept 14.
Fees did the damage. Commission income from the Upbit trading platform dropped 49.8% in the first half to 395.5 billion won, near $279 million. That single line accounts for 97% of everything Dunamu earns.
The whole market shrank with it. Volume across Korea’s five licensed won exchanges fell 49.5% in the second quarter to $146.4 billion, according to CoinGecko data.
A 22% tax on crypto gains then arrives in January 2027, one reason Korea’s shrinking trading volume may not bounce back fast. Upbit has meanwhile kept pruning its board, removing three altcoins in September.
The Price Nobody Has Moved
Here is the awkward part. Samsung affiliates, Hana Bank and Hanwha Investment Securities each paid 439,252 won a share when they bought into Dunamu in May, or about $310. That valued the company near 15.3 trillion won.
Dunamu’s pending merger with Naver Financial still uses the same number. The share swap prices Dunamu at 439,252 won, unchanged since the deal was signed in November 2025.
So the price has not moved. The business under it has.
Shareholders vote on the all stock deal on November 19. The date has slipped twice while Korea’s Fair Trade Commission reviews the tie up. Completion is now set for December 31.
Dunamu blamed thinner liquidity across global digital asset markets, and the weaker investor appetite that followed.
The company also said it follows the Virtual Asset User Protection Act to the letter. That law has governed Korean exchanges since July 2024. Dunamu says it is upgrading internal systems to stamp out unfair trading.
For the institutions that bought in, one question now sits in plain view. They paid a price set before this collapse reached the accounts. In November, they vote on whether it still holds.
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