Bitcoin

<p>The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) last Tuesday, prompting South Korean investors to flock to cryptocurrency exchanges to make transactions. However, the revenues recorded by these exchanges showed a mixed performance in response to this development due to their differing transaction fee policies, according to local news outlet DealSite on Monday.</p><h2 id="header-0">Trading volumes surge and retreat</h2><p>According to crypto analytics platform CoinGecko, as of 9 a.m. on Jan. 12 (KST), Upbit&#39;s trading volume on Dec. 11 and 12 was approximately $5.1 billion and $6.1 billion, respectively, for a total of about $11 billion. During the same period, Bithumb recorded $2.6 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively, totaling nearly $5 billion. However, as of this writing at 11 a.m. on Jan. 15, Upbit’s 24-hour trading volume has dropped back down to $2.1 billion and Bithumb to $874 million.</p><p>&#34;After the SEC&#39;s approval, crypto exchanges were simultaneously flooded with transactions,&#34; an anonymous industry employee commented. &#34;Bitcoin and Ethereum were mainly traded.&#34;</p><h2 id="header-1">Fee divergence</h2><p>Although the ETF approval caused a general uptick in trading volumes, the amount of revenue that the exchanges earned from transaction fees varied. Upbit charges a fee of 0.05% for both buying and selling crypto, meaning the exchange made an estimated KRW 14.8 billion in revenue from the fees from Dec. 11 to 12.</p><p>Bithumb, on the other hand, hasn&#39;t earned any revenue from trading fees since its <a href="https://coinnesslive.page.link/yJx5XgoNpaVHwF5r5" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">zero-fee policy</a> was implemented in October last year.</p><p>Bithumb had previously charged 0.25% for transactions and 0.04% with coupons. By implementing the former, the exchange lost about KRW 15.8 billion ($12 million) in revenue, and with the latter, it lost about KRW 2.5 billion. For crypto investors, Bithumb&#39;s zero-fee policy has made investing more accessible, but the exchange is unlikely to reap its own rewards.</p><h2 id="header-2">Significant investor interest</h2><p>Moreover, with trading for the spot bitcoin ETF beginning on the 11th, the influx of funds is expected to boost trading. &#34;All told there were 700,000 individual trades today in and out of the 11 spot ETFs,&#34; Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas told X (formerly Twitter). &#34;For context, that is double the number of trades for $QQQ.&#34; $QQQ refers to the Invesco QQQ ETF.</p><p>According to an image that accompanied Balchunas’ post, the total trading volume across all 11 spot ETFs was reportedly $4.3 billion. Grayscale&#39;s GBTC had the highest volume at $2.1 billion, followed by BlackRock’s IBIT at $1 billion and Fidelity’s FBTC at $673 million.</p>

Spot bitcoin ETF approval triggers surge and shift in Korean crypto exchange performances

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