Decoding Korean Exchanges: Data Unveils the Secrets of Coin Listing Black Boxes

This article delves into the Korean cryptocurrency market, analyzes its world-leading trading scale and activity, and deconstructs how market sentiment and policies jointly drive the pace of listing, providing project parties with strategic layout and practical guidance for entering the Korean market. This article is based on articles written by K1 Research and Klein Labs, and is curated and contributed by PANews. (Synopsis: South Korea’s crypto market is bursting!) Upbit trading volume exceeded $10 billion, and popular tokens doubled in a single day) (Background supplement: South Korea launched the “Cryptocurrency Spot ETF Roadmap”, and the details of the Digital Asset Basic Law were announced in the second half of the year) Key Summary South Korea’s market is leading the world in terms of size and activitySince 2025, the volume of cryptocurrency transactions denominated in Korean won has ranked second in the world, second only to the US dollar market, and has been leading the altcoin trading field for a long time, showing the characteristics of high acceptance of new coins and abundant liquidity. For the project side, this is a high-potential, willing to taste the fresh launch market. The results of the listing rhythm panel driven by policy and market sentiment show that the average monthly price of BTC is positively correlated with the number of coins listed on the exchange, indicating that market heat has a direct impact on the listing decision. At the same time, the policy window amplifies this effect, showing the superposition of regulatory signals with market sentiment. For project parties, when entering the Korean market, they should comprehensively consider the market heat, investor attention and policy timing, and reasonably arrange the pace of listing, so as to enhance the exposure of the project while simultaneously optimizing transaction liquidity and achieving a strategic listing layout. From the overall pattern, Bithumb and Coinone both play a “bridge effect” in the rhythm of listing, and some tokens are listed before the two and then enter the UPbit with a larger trading volume. Coinone’s listing performance is particularly outstanding, achieving a secondary amplification of price and trading volume. Projects can preferentially choose Coinone as the entry point, and then gradually expand to larger exchanges to achieve the linkage release of resources and popularity. All three exchanges belong to the DAXA Alliance, and the internal conduction effect further enhances the market spread of the listed coin. There are obvious differences in the user portraits, listing rhythm and market influence of each exchange, and simply pursuing the largest platform is not the optimal strategy. For the project side, the exchange type and listing order should be matched according to the token characteristics, community structure and promotion budget to improve the input-output ratio. Korean market promotion requires a combination of localization and multi-channel, and an effective Korean market entry strategy not only relies on simple exchange listing applications, but also includes Naver keyword optimization, local crypto forum topic guidance, offline event marketing, KOL linkage, etc. The project team should synchronize the rhythm of listing with localized marketing to form a closed-loop transformation from popularity to transaction volume. 1. Preface In the global cryptocurrency landscape, South Korea is rising at an alarming rate. So far in 2025, the total volume of KRW-denominated cryptocurrency transactions has reached $663 billion, making it the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency market after the US dollar. What is more noteworthy is that South Korea has maintained a global leading position in the field of non-mainstream currency trading for a long time, and has the world’s highest non-mainstream currency trading volume. A whopping 25.4% of the South Korean population is actively involved in cryptocurrency trading, a high level of engagement that is extremely rare worldwide. This enthusiasm has also given rise to the unique phenomenon of “kimchi premium”. At the same time, the South Korean government is actively reshaping the cryptocurrency regulatory framework, moving away from the restrictive policies of the past and towards a new phase that encourages innovation and market development. The recently launched cryptocurrency ETF roadmap and stablecoin development plan not only inject new institutional benefits into the market, but also further strengthen South Korea’s strategic position as an important crypto market in Asia and the world. In this context, studying the potential of the Korean cryptocurrency market can not only provide the project party with a practical strategic reference of “how to land on the Korean exchange”, but also reveal the opportunities and risks of this special market for investors. This research report will focus on the listing path and performance of the five major Korean exchanges - UPbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and GOPAX, combined with the latest data from 2024 to 2025, for a more micro and in-depth analysis, to help readers fully understand the listing ecology and market logic of Korean exchanges. 2. Preparation before listing: marketing is not omnipotent, but indispensable The success of listing not only depends on the hard power and technical level of the project, but also marketing and publicity are indispensable. Especially on the Korean exchange, the listing requirements are strict and the number is limited, and the project must have strength in technology, community and market recognition. Below, we collate several key Korean local marketing methods from the perspective of exchanges, focusing on their role in enhancing project exposure, gaining user recognition and capital attention, and providing lessons for successful listing: 2.1 KOL and Community Influence In the process of publicity and listing in the Korean market, high-quality local KOL and community resources are an indispensable part. At present, several Korean crypto communities with high activity and professional content output have been deeply engaged in the market for a long time. On Telegram, KOL communities that reach between 20,000 and 40,000 people and are known for their professional, high-quality content are: MBM Creator Academy (@MBMweb3) We Crypto Together ( @WeCryptoTogether) Cobacknam Announcements (@cobacknamannounce) Yobeul’s World ( @yobeullyANN) Telegram Coin Rooms & Channels – CEN (@emperorcoin) Jammin123 ( @muijammin123) Fire Ant CRYPTO (@fireantcrypto) Youth Passion Flavor House Co., Ltd. ( @minchoisfuture) These groups are the core OG communities established in the early days, which not only have historical precipitation and influence, but also gather experienced and active players who are good at creating atmospheres, and have a high popularity in Korea. and a group of communities with a stable number of members of about 10,000 people, although relatively small, but with more accurate user portraits and higher stickiness, including: CRYPTO Sea (@crypt0_sea) KOOB Crypto 3.0 (KOOB Crypto) (@kookookoob) Coin Boy’s Crypto Story (@coinboys) Naback’s coin life (@ysytop2) Lee Dojin Metaverse Announcement (@leedojin2) Considering that the entire population of South Korea is only 50 million, compared to the English-speaking community and the Chinese-speaking community, Tens of thousands of followers is already a lot of size. Unlike the English-speaking area, Koreans still use X in a minority (but there is also a tendency for some KOLs and users to migrate to X).