이 기사는 2022년 01월 05일 08시07분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, plans to expand into overseas markets this year as it explores new business opportunities to diversify revenue streams and reduce exposure to crypto’s notorious volatility.

“2021 was the year we laid the groundwork for a new start,” Lee Seok-woo, Dunamu’s chief executive, told the bell. “We look forward to the new year with several new business plans.”

The number of the company's customers grew to nine million, up by nearly six million over the past year, on the back of a boom in the crypto market. It also received a license for virtual asset services from the country’s financial authorities in September last year.

“Setting up internal control systems such as KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) procedures on our own was one of our biggest achievements last year,” Lee said, adding that the company took the opportunity to strengthen its internal procedures.

Dunamu recorded revenue of 2.8 trillion won ($2.3 billion) in the first three quarters of last year, up 17 times year-over-year, with its 2021 full-year revenue believed to have significantly exceeded 3 trillion won.

Upbit represented a substantial part of the company’s total revenue. Lee said that he didn’t expect such rapid revenue growth at all and it is also difficult for him to predict revenue for this year because of the volatility of the crypto market.

Dunamu plans to expand its business into new areas this year to address crypto’s volatility and diversify revenue sources, with non-fungible tokens (NFT) being one of them. The company will establish a US joint venture with HYBE, home to K-pop sensation BTS, in the first half of this year to enter the NFT market.

“The NFT market has a significant growth potential because NFTs are very intuitive and easier to understand than other virtual assets,” Lee said. “The joint venture’s business model is likely to be selling NFT versions of artists’ work, which we expect will naturally lead to the creation of a secondary market where artists’ global fandom will participate.”

Dunamu also launched a beta version of its metaverse platform, 2nd block, where users can exhibit NFTs in December last year. “We started with a simple version and will continue to improve the service based on feedback from users,” Lee said. “Like the US metaverse platform Gather, it is also possible to offer our metaverse services to corporate customers.”

Market without borders

Upbit is South Korea’s largest crypto exchange with a market share of more than 80%, which has raised concerns about monopoly power. But Lee pointed out that the crypto market is borderless and global, saying that the market is “too large to define monopoly power only based on the domestic share”.

Dunamu chose VerifyVASP, a travel rule compliance solution launched by its blockchain unit Lambda256. Alliance with crypto exchanges in Southeast Asia driven by VerifyVASP will help the company speed up expansion into the global market, Lee said.

Lee also commented about speculation on the company’s potential listing. “I know there are rumors and I want to be clear that no decision has been made about when and where to go public,” Lee said. “We are looking at what is the best interest for the company and shareholders.” (Reporting by Yun-ju Roh)