In the fourth quarter of last year, the boom in the virtual asset market that started under U.S. President Trump impacted not only Upbit and Bithumb, which hold a large share of the domestic market, but also smaller exchanges. Although there was little change in market share among the smaller exchanges, their previously sluggish revenue and operating profit showed significant improvement.
According to a financial disclosure by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 17th, Coinone and Korbit returned to profitability last year. Coinone recorded a net profit of 15.6 billion won, recovering from a net loss of 6.7 billion won the previous year, while Korbit posted a net profit of 9.8 billion won, escaping a net loss of 14.1 billion won from the previous year. The trading boom last year improved the performance even for smaller exchanges.
Operating profit also saw significant improvement. Coinone's operating loss last year was reduced to 6 billion won from a previous year's loss of 23.5 billion won, largely due to its transaction revenue almost doubling from 22.2 billion won to 44.1 billion won. Korbit decreased its operating loss to 16.7 billion won from the previous year's loss of 26.8 billion won, with its transaction revenue increasing more than fivefold from 1.6 billion won to 8.7 billion won.
With the boom in the virtual asset market and the rise in asset prices, the asset valuation gains for exchanges also increased. Coinone's valuation of company-owned virtual assets grew to 48.5 billion won, up 108.3% from 23.3 billion won at the end of the previous year. Korbit's asset valuation rose to 7.3 billion won, nearly doubling from 3.6 billion won a year earlier. Notably, Korbit's investment virtual asset valuation from lending to third parties amounted to 71.1 billion won, soaring over 460% compared to the previous year (15.4 billion won), indicating expectations for significant operating revenue.
Starting in the second half of this year, the avenue for corporate investment in virtual assets will open up, which has smaller exchanges anticipating new revenue sources. Currently, Korbit has begun virtual asset management services for non-profit corporations such as Shinhan Bank, its partner bank, and the Nexon Foundation. The Beautiful Foundation, World Vision, and Hanam City in Gyeonggi Province have also opened corporate accounts with Korbit. Coinone is in discussions with its partner bank, KakaoBank, to launch corporate services. However, to maintain good performance, there are concerns that both exchanges need to increase their market share in their core business of transactions, expecting continued customer acquisition events this year.
Gopax, the only one among the five won-based exchanges to report a net loss, also improved its internal performance. Gopax's operating loss decreased from 16.9 billion won the previous year to 2.9 billion won. However, due to the rise in virtual asset prices, interest expenses and valuation losses associated with unpaid amounts surged, causing the net loss to increase from 51.3 billion won to 130.5 billion won. Gopay debts are the virtual asset debts that Gopax has not paid back to investors, which increased when Genesis Capital, which managed investors' virtual assets received from Gopax, went bankrupt.
A Gopax official noted, "Due to last year's boom, we are currently viewing the operational situation positively within the company, and it seems to be extended with Jeonbuk Bank, our partner." They added, "Once the major shareholder is approved by Binance as previously submitted and the virtual asset business is renewed, we will be able to repay customers' debts using Gopay."