South Korean Crypto Exchange Staff Bill ‘Outstrips Commercial Banks’

Upbit bolstered by Q1 crypto bull market, with employees benefiting from good financial performance

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Some South Korean crypto exchange workers are getting paid more than staff in some of the nation’s top commercial banks, new data shows.

Per News1, average salaries have “more than doubled” year-on-year at the Upbit exchange. The platform’s operator has also paid out over $2.4 million worth of bonuses to its CEO in the first half of the financial year.

South Korean Crypto Exchange Workers Benefit from Crypto Market Rise

The media outlet credited the crypto market “boom” in the first quarter of FY2024 for the uptick in staff payouts and salaries.

Experts think that a bull market sparked by the launch of the Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States helped bolster profits at domestic exchanges.

As such, the outlet wrote, “pay for both executives and other employees” at Upbit operator Dunamu “increased significantly.”

The data was compiled by the regulatory Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and made public on August 18.

It shows that, on average, Dunamu paid its 601 employees the equivalent of just over $99,000 per year each in the first half of this year.

This figure is a “2.2-fold increase from the 59.44 million won [$44,000] recorded in the first half of last year,” News1 wrote.

Salaries Rise Higher than Top Bank Staff Pay Rates

Most of the rise appears to have come in the form of performance-based bonus payments, the data suggests.

This pay rate “exceeds the average annual salary of employees” at South Korea’s four biggest banks Kookmin Bank (KB), Shinhan Bank, KEB Hana Bank, and Woori Bank in FY2023.

These banks posted average salaries of under $86,000 in the past financial year.

And Upbit’s rising staff payments are evidence of the exchange’s rise in profitability over the course of the bull run.

The bull run saw the return of the so-called “ant” (retail) investors to South Korean crypto markets.

The nation’s markets are heavily populated by these small-scale investors, who only tend to trade in large volumes when token prices rise or fall suddenly.

These traders are most active on domestic platforms like Upbit. As such, Dunamu posted an operating income of KRW 531.1 billion ($393.4 million) in the first quarter of 2024.

This represents a 60.5% increase in operating income in the fourth quarter of the previous year (KRW 330.7 billion or $245 million).

Upbit Profits Also on the Rise

The exchange also posted an almost 40% rise in operating profit versus the fourth quarter of the previous financial year.

The news outlet wrote that Dunamu “appears to have given its employees generous performance bonuses.”

Executives may have been the most notable beneficiaries: The Dunamu CEO Song Chi-hyung’s financial package – including bonuses – was worth a combined $3.52 million.

South Korea, Japan, US leaders renew pledge to cooperate on regional challenges https://t.co/Lyf8alodk6 pic.twitter.com/ZjG8xLK1Uv — Reuters (@Reuters) August 18, 2024

This first-half compensation figure “is more than twice that of major financial sector CEOs,” the media outlet noted.

For instance, the CEO of Citibank Korea received a total of $1.54 million in the same period.

And the Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo received $1.35 million in the same period.

Upbit’s closest rival, the Bithumb exchange, also recently unveiled positive financial results for the second quarter of FY2023.

Trading volumes on South Korea’s Bithumb crypto exchange over the past 12 months. (Source: CoinGecko)

High trading volumes in the bull market have also helped bolster the platform and its financial performance.

The exchange last week posted a 639.2% increase in operating profits compared to Quarter 2 of FY2023 Q2. Bithumb’s sales also increased 193.6% to the $180 million mark.