South Korean FinTech startup Dunamu, an affiliate of South Korea’s largest messaging platform Kakao, has opened its new cryptocurrency exchange Upbit for testing in a beta phase.
Dunamu first revealed details of ‘Upbit’ its new cryptocurrency exchange earlier in September, developed in partnership with US-based exchange Bittrex. The planned launch will see Upbit supporting an unprecedented 110 cryptocurrencies for a Korean exchange, a feature that Dunamu anticipates will propel Upbit to become the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea.
‘During the initial stage of the service, Upbit will mainly handle bitcoin and other major alternative coins such as ethereum, ripple and litecoin with trading volume exceeding a certain amount,’ an excerpt from Korea Joongang Daily read at the time of the announcement. ‘The platform’s ultimate goal is to enable the trading of 111 different tokens from 167 different markets.’
Upbit will support markets that are supported by four core currencies including the Korean Won (KRW), bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and tether (USDT).
In a new Business Korea report, Upbit opened its doors for users to trial its service this week. The exchange is currently in a beta phase and users will be able to access the platform through Android and iOS apps alongside its desktop website.
Dunamu chief executive Song Chi-hyung stated:
With the partnership with Bittrex, we are not only able to support the largest number of digital currency trading services but also have addressed problems such as inconveniences of existing Altcoin investment, time delays and complicated account management. Starting with ten open beta service, we are planning to provide services that are optimized to domestic trading conditions.
Dunamu is also the operator of Kakao Stock, South Korea’s most popular stock trading app. Kakao Corp’s popular KakaoTalk messaging application is arguably the most widely used application in all of Korea, with an estimated 93% of the country’s population communicating over the platform. Dunamu confirmed Upbit traders would be able to take advantage of its massively popular ecosystem by connecting cryptocurrency traders with both Kakao Talk and Kakao Pay, the corporation’s mobile payment subsidiary with nearly 15 million users in Korea.