South Korean Crypto Exchanges Paid Customers $87M in Interest in Past Year

Key Points

1. Five major South Korean exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, GOPAX) paid 120.26 billion KRW ($87M) in interest on fiat deposits in the past 12 months.

2. The Virtual Asset User Protection Act mandates exchanges to provide reasonable interest on fiat deposits, sparking competition among platforms.

3. Bithumb offered the highest interest rate at 4%, while other exchanges like Upbit, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX provided rates between 2.0% and 2.2%, still higher than commercial banks' standard 1%.

4. The Financial Supervisory Service disclosed the data after a freedom of information request from lawmaker Heo Young.

5. Despite the competition, some exchanges have begun lowering interest rates, with GOPAX reducing its rate to 1.9%.