Two of the largest shareholders in Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s dominant cryptocurrency exchange, are the first people in the country from the crypto industry to become billionaires as the value of their startup skyrocketed 21-fold in less than a year.
Last week, Hybe, the agency behind K-pop sensation BTS, bought a 2.5% stake in Dunamu for 500 billion won (about $400 million), valuing the crypto startup at $17 billion. The new valuation makes Dunamu one of the highest-valued startups in Korea, and its founder and chairman, Song Chi-hyung, and executive vice president Kim Hyoung-nyon new billionaires. Forbes estimates that Song, 42, owns about a quarter of Dunamu, while Kim, 45, owns around 13%. At Dunamu's new valuation, Song's stake in the almost 10-year-old startup is worth $3.8 billion; Kim's is worth $2 billion. (Forbes applies a 10% discount to private company valuations.)
In 2018, Forbesestimated Song held between $350 million and $500 million in cryptocurrencies. Dunamu did not respond to a request for comment on how much cryptocurrencies Song and Kim currently personally own.
“We believe Dunamu is a blue-chip way to invest in the crypto-economy.”
Dunamu, which runs the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, was previously valued at about $800 million in February, when Seoul-based Hanwha Investment & Securities bought U.S. semiconductor giant Qualcomm's entire 6% stake in the startup for around $50 million (Qualcomm invested in Dunamu back in 2015). And in September, Dunamu raised $85 million from venture capital firms, including Altos Ventures in Silicon Valley, at a valuation of around $8.7 billion.
"We believe Dunamu is a blue-chip way to invest in the crypto-economy," says Oh Moon-suk, a Seoul-based partner at Altos, which has backed the likes of Coupang, Krafton and fintech unicorn Viva Republica. "Upbit is the primary trading exchange in Korea that interacts with the crypto-ecosystem and serves as one of the few crypto-exchanges permitted to accept fiat currency."
Upbit was one of the few Korean cryptocurrency exchanges that survived regulatory scrutiny. Cryptocurrency exchanges in Korea had to obtain a security certificate from the country's internet security agency by September 24 in order to be recognized as legal trading platforms, and secure partnerships with banks to ensure trading accounts are held by real people. Dozens of exchanges were not able to obtain the security certificate and had to close down.
"While the crypto-ecosystem is still in early phase of development and the adoption of crypto-currencies as an asset class remains to be proven, blockchain technology and crypto-currencies as digital assets are increasingly gaining store-of-value credibility demonstrated by the growing number of institutional investor participation and increasing regulatory clarity,” adds Oh.
Hybe is working with Dunamu to sell digital photo cards of BTS members in the form of non-fungible tokens, which have exploded in popularity this year. NFTs use blockchain technology to authenticate digital collectibles, such as works of art and music. “We are working with Dunamu to create a way to expand the fan experience,” Bang Si-hyuk, the billionaire founder of Hybe, said in an online briefing last week. "We will bring together the capabilities both companies have built up so far to introduce a new and exciting innovation to the global music and fintech industries.”
At the same time, cryptocurrencies have been gaining mainstream acceptance and the value of digital assets have continued to rise. On Monday, the cryptocurrency market rushed past $3 trillion in combined value as major tokens including bitcoin and ether pushed towards record highs.
Based in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam neighborhood, Dunamu was established in 2012 as a news aggregator. It launched Upbit in 2017 and, according to Dunamu's website, the cryptocurrency exchange has more than 8 million users and $2.5 trillion in total trading volume. Kakao Ventures, the venture capital arm of Korean internet giant Kakao and an early investor of Dunamu, said in a recent commentary posted online that 80% of Korea's cryptocurrency transactions are done through Upbit.
Before starting Dunamu, Song worked at local mobile payment company Danal and management consulting firm Innomove. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics from the prestigious Seoul National University. Kim withdrew plans for an M.B.A. during the late 1990s on the heels of a massive upgrade in Korea’s internet infrastructure to work in the then-emerging field of tech. Kim also graduated from Seoul National University (though he studied agricultural economics) and worked with Song at Danal.
The new valuation makes Dunamu one of the highest-valued startups in Korea, and its founder and chairman, Song Chi-hyung, and executive vice president Kim Hyoung-nyon new billionaires. Forbes estimates that Song, 42, owns about a quarter of Dunamu, while Kim, 45, owns around 13%.
The total value of all outstanding cryptocurrencies increased by 170%, adding some $1.6 trillion in market value over the past 12 months, according to CoinGecko. That's helped make at least 17 people crypto billionaires, according to Forbes' 2024 World's Billionaires list, up from nine crypto billionaires last year.
How many cryptocurrencies owners are in South Korea? It is estimated that 2 million people, 3.9% of South Korea's total population, currently own cryptocurrency.
Upbit, run by fintech firm Dunamu Inc., was launched in 2017. The exchange now accounts for almost 5% of overall crypto trading volume globally, up from 1.4% in January 2021, according to CCData.
Sam Bankman-Fried founded FTX, one of the world's largest exchanges for so-called cryptocurrencies, which collapsed last year owing billions of dollars. Now he has gone from being hailed as potentially the world's first trillionaire to a lengthy term in prison.
In total, at least 182 of crypto users have holdings of $100 million or more in cryptocurrencies, and 22 users own at least $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies each, according to Henley & Partners, which worked with South African wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth to collect its data.
Note that if we were to rank countries based on their actual number of crypto owners, India would rank first at 93 million people, China would rank second at 59 million people, and the U.S. would rank third at 52 million people.
South Korea has also developed clear regulations governing crypto assets. Although these are not considered to be legal tender in the country, they are still fairly popular. The country allows trading in crypto assets if the users disclose their real names.
Bitcoin prices in South Korea are pushed above those in other global bourses, as demand is driven mainly by retail investors since institutional and foreign investors are not able to participate freely.
South Korean Do Kwon presided over one of the biggest busts ever in the volatile crypto sector. His Terraform Labs Pte created the TerraUSD stablecoin, which was meant to have a constant $1 value via a complex mix of algorithms and trader incentives involving a sister token, Luna.
In the presidential election of 2022, President Yoon Suk-Yeol pledged to restrict taxes for crypto gains and allow initial coin offerings (ICO). It is unclear whether his crypto-pledges were decisive in helping him win the historically close election.
The Upbit cryptocurrency exchange services are available in 40 markets, including South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. Some or all services may vary in different regions. The Upbit spot market is unavailable to US-based customers.
Upbit is a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange operated by Dunamu. It was launched in October 2017 and is currently the largest crypto exchange in South Korea. Upbit has also obtained a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, allowing it to enhance its product offerings.
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency created and is now the most valuable and well known. It was launched in January 2009 by a computer programmer – or group of programmers – using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto's actual identity has never been verified.
Yes, it is possible for someone to become wealthy by investing or trading in cryptocurrencies. Consider seeking advice from financial professionals or experienced traders before diving into cryptocurrency investments or trading.
Bitcoin has made many millionaires already, and you could be one, too. Over the course of its 15-year history, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has made plenty of millionaires.
Prior to Coinbase, Armstrong worked as a software engineer at various tech companies, including IBM and Airbnb. However, it was his involvement with cryptocurrency that paved his way to fortune. In 2012, Armstrong co-founded Coinbase.
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