Author: Zhou, ChainCatcher

On November 10, South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit opened trading for the Hyperliquid native token HYPE, and Bithumb also followed up on the same day.

On the same day, OKX launched tokenized Oracle stock xORCL. Looking back a week, Huobi HTX simultaneously launched 20 U.S. stock tokens and ETFs, Gate opened trading for TSMC, MediaTek, and other Taiwanese stocks, and Bitget brought Morgan Stanley and India’s Reliance Industries into the perpetual contract market, also announcing the opening of the IPO subscription channel for Anthropic.

As we look at the announcements from leading global exchanges, the new names increasingly resemble a broker's product catalog, while new coins have become the minority.

In contrast, Upbit has been more aggressive with its new offerings this year, launching new ones each quarter. In the first three quarters, nearly a hundred new trading markets were opened. Especially in the Korean won market, the launch speed once reached around 16 per month, more than double the monthly average in the first half of the year.

It's hard to say that Korean exchanges are more loyal to native cryptocurrencies; they have almost no other choice. Since 2017, Korean regulatory authorities erected a dividing wall between the financial and cryptocurrency industries. Financial institutions cannot engage in cryptocurrency assets, and cryptocurrency exchanges find it difficult to step into traditional finance. Derivatives are still not permitted under the regulatory framework, and the upcoming tokenized securities will have their circulation channels managed by the securities system.

Leading Exchanges Switch to Tokenized Stocks

By the end of 2025, Binance established a token listing process that progresses through Alpha, contracts, and spot markets. According to disclosures by Binance, as of April this year, 99 of the 200 tokens showcased on Alpha had entered the contract market, while only 35 had made it to the spot market. The speculative demand for new tokens remains within the Alpha and contract layers, significantly slowing down new listings in the spot market.

Statistics from Binance Research show that in 2025, Binance's spot market launched a total of 87 new projects, while data compiled by flexe.io indicates that as of November 11 this year, only 26 new tokens have been listed on Binance's spot market.

The same statistics show that Binance announced the delisting of 49 tokens this year, with 64 more marked for observation; in 2025, these two figures were 27 and 42, respectively. With fewer new listings and more delistings, Binance's spot mainboard is rapidly contracting.

Of course, this is also attributable to changes in the market environment. According to CoinGecko data, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market dropped by 20.4% in the first quarter, and the trading volume of centralized exchange spot markets decreased by 39.1%.

Regulation is another layer of consideration. In June of this year, Binance withdrew its MiCA license application before a formal decision was made by the Greek regulatory authorities, while compliance officers stationed by the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network are still in service.

For an exchange that has to constantly deal with regulation, launching a large number of high-risk new tokens on its spot mainboard could easily become a scrutinized aspect.

More critically, Binance has shifted more of its focus toward bringing traditional financial assets onto the blockchain. After the Abu Dhabi ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority approved the issuer's prospectus, Binance launched tokenized securities bStocks, linked to U.S. stocks and ETFs, with nearly weekly new listings since late September.

Binance is not alone on this path. In March of this year, OKX received a strategic investment from the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, ICE, reaching a valuation of $25 billion, after which tokenized stocks began being launched in batches, and X-contract stock offerings continue to expand. Bitget-supported stock perpetual contracts have reached 408, and Gate and Huobi HTX are also expanding their stock asset offerings.

Although the volume of tokenized stocks is still relatively small, according to RWA.xyz data, as of November 10, the total value of on-chain tokenized stocks is approximately $3.88 billion.

Exchanges see the market behind it. According to Bloomberg data, in the third quarter of this year, the total market capitalization of the global stock market was about $165 trillion. Meanwhile, the total market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market is approximately $2.59 trillion, more than 60 times that of the global stock market. The scale of tokenized stocks is even less than one ten-thousandth of the global stock market.

Even if only a small part of the stock market is brought onto the blockchain, for exchanges, it represents a much larger piece of cake than native crypto assets.

Locked in Spot Markets, Upbit Can Only Defend by Listing New Coins

Why specifically mention Korean exchanges? They may be the last decent bastion for native assets in centralized exchanges.

Over the year, Binance and Upbit's two lines have crossed. Last year, Binance launched 87 new assets on its spot market, obviously surpassing Upbit's 59. This year, the situation has reversed, as Binance has only launched 26 new assets to date, whereas according to South Korea's Today's Economy, by mid-August Upbit had already opened 59 new Korean won trading pairs, matching last year's total in less than eight months.

In the last three months, the contrast has become even more pronounced. According to statistics compiled by ChainCatcher from official announcements from exchanges, since the beginning of August, Binance has announced only 4 new cryptocurrency assets, namely MARSCOIN, Niu Lai, HYPE, and PREDICT, with PREDICT later announcing a delay in its launch. During the same period, Upbit launched 39 new assets, and Bithumb 29.

The Korean exchanges' "steadfastness" towards native cryptocurrency assets must begin with the regulation in Korea.

In 2017, the Financial Services Commission of Korea issued administrative guidance limiting financial institutions from owning and operating cryptocurrency assets. The principle of separating finance and crypto has continued to this day, making it difficult for cryptocurrency exchanges to step into traditional finance.

Korea has yet to establish a regulated cryptocurrency derivatives market; users with trading demands can only flow to overseas platforms.

The road for tokenized securities has proven to be unviable as well. In January of this year, the Korean National Assembly passed legislation related to tokenized securities, incorporating them into the Capital Markets Act and assigning the circulation channels to securities companies and over-the-counter trading intermediaries. The related laws will take effect on February 4, 2027.

While global peers can engage in contracts and launch U.S. stocks, the only thing Korean exchanges can do is spot trading of cryptocurrencies, leading to a particularly singular revenue structure.

According to disclosures from Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service electronic public disclosure system, in the first quarter of this year, the transaction fee income of Upbit's operator Dunamu accounted for 97.49% of total revenue, while for Bithumb, this figure was even close to 99.99%.

This year, the overall cryptocurrency market remains in a low state. According to CoinGecko data, the total transaction volume of the five major Korean won exchanges decreased by about half year-on-year in the second quarter, with Upbit experiencing a decline of 54%.

Transaction fees are almost the only source of income, and new listings have become the most direct means to drive transactions.

At the same time, this is also a battle for market share. The cryptocurrency transaction volume in Korea is almost divided between Upbit and Bithumb; according to CoinGecko data, in September, Upbit accounted for 65.44% of transaction volume among Korean exchanges, while Bithumb accounted for 26.87%.

In such a duopolistic market, whoever has more and faster listings has a better chance of retaining users.

Korean Exchanges Have Become the Final Stop on the Token Listing Chain

The new coins launched by Upbit are rarely seen for the first time in the market, which is also a result of regulatory conditions.

According to Four Pillars researcher tranks, the proportion of new coins listed on Upbit and Bithumb's Korean won market that were launched first in Korea before Binance, OKX, Bybit, and Coinbase has dropped from 85% in 2019 to 9% in 2024.

This decline coincides almost perfectly with the establishment of the regulatory framework in Korea. In March 2020, the revised Specific Financial Information Act required exchanges to fulfill registration and anti-money laundering obligations, with the registration deadline set for September 2021; the number of tokens launched first in Korea dropped from an average of 19 per quarter to 3, and the annual percentage fell to 38%.

In 2022, the five Korean won exchanges established DAXA and developed a common token listing review standard; the best practice guidelines coming into effect in July 2024 state that assets traded on qualified overseas exchanges for over two years can be viewed as meeting the white paper and information disclosure requirements. By 2024, this percentage had dropped to 9%. Although this year it has rebounded to 18%, if assets that had traded overseas for more than a year are excluded, it is only 10%.

The default path for new token listings seems to be trading overseas before coming to Korea.

Previously, IOSG Ventures pointed out that in the token listing chain, Coinbase and Bybit undertake early price discovery, Binance contracts subsequently verify liquidity, and Binance spot confirms after adjustments, with Korean exchanges at the end of the chain. Upbit, on average, lists new tokens about 28 days later than the first issuing exchange. For example, the HYPE token opened on November 10, while Binance had already opened spot trading on September 24, meaning Upbit was one and a half months late.

Being at the end of the chain means having to carry the last segment of the market trend. IOSG's data shows that the entry premium when tokens land on Upbit reaches 27.4%, but the drop after 30 days is also the steepest, at 25.7%.

This defensive strategy is also eroding Upbit itself. According to Four Pillars statistics, the proportion of new tokens in Upbit's total transaction volume increased from 5% in January to 27.6% in August. They believe that the scarcity of Upbit's token listing premiums is being consumed in defending against transaction volume in a bear market.

This year, older tokens launched on the two Korean exchanges are increasing as well. In 2025, 47% of new tokens will follow up within 30 days of being launched overseas; in 2026, assets traded overseas for more than a year will become the largest category, accounting for 31%, with even long-established tokens like CRV and RSR, which have traded overseas for over six years, listed on the Korean won market this year.

However, older tokens present a problem: they do not attract traffic. Statistics from tranks show that for assets trading overseas for more than a year, the median drop in the 30 days after listing is only 7%, making them more investor-friendly. However, their median transaction volume share on the first day of listing on Upbit is only 5.7%, while newly listed tokens that follow up within 30 days of being launched overseas account for 10.3%.

Writing at the End

This kind of pattern may not last long.

The challenge Korean exchanges face is to find new trading demand and income sources beyond just listing new coins. Clearly, they are aware of this themselves.

On November 10, at the Digital Asset Policy Conference DICON held in Yeouido, Seoul, Dunamu Vice Chairman Kim Hyung-nyun talked about tokenized stocks. He stated that representative Korean stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix can only be tokenized and traded on overseas exchanges, which is very painful in itself.

Kim Hyung-nyun also stated that as long as the regulatory system is designed properly, Dunamu will do its best to become a global representative of Korea.

In fact, regulatory attitudes are slowly starting to change. The chairman of the Financial Services Commission of Korea has indicated that they will study whether to relax the restrictions between finance and crypto along with the basic law on digital assets.

Members of the ruling Democratic Party, including Min Byeong-deok, have also stated that this law must be passed during the current regular National Assembly session, by the latest January 18 of next year, and he has advocated for fully allowing institutional and corporate investment in virtual assets.

Once the wall between finance and crypto is dismantled, Korean exchanges will likely follow the path of their global peers, with contracts and tokenized stocks being a given.

At that point, native crypto assets might not even be able to hold onto this last bastion.