Upbit Thailand Launches as Bitkub Facing Troubles

Cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit has launched its services in Thailand on Wednesday, taking advantage of the technical troubles faced by the existing local market leader.

The South Korea-headquartered exchange already obtained the necessary licenses from the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year to legally operate in the Southeast Asian country.

For its operation in the Thai market, Upbit has formed a joint venture with APAC Pte and a group of Thai billionaires, which include CP Group heir and owner of Fortune magazine, Chatchaval Jiaravanon, SET-listed Energy Absolute Founder, Somphote Ahunai and Preecha Praipattaraku.

Upbit is one of the largest crypto exchanges in its home South Korea and already has operations in Singapore and Indonesia. With Upbit Thailand, it has strengthened its presence in the lucrative Southeast Asian market.

A Perfect Time to Tap the Thai Market

The timing of the Thai launch could not be more perfect as the leading local exchange, Bitkub is facing hostility from the regulator and the clients for the failure of handling traffic in the recent market surge. It suffered multiple outages in January alone and received a regulatory notice to fix technical shortcomings in five days that followed another unexpected outage of its desktop platform.

Bitkub handles Thailand’s most crypto trades with an estimated 97 percent of the total local market share. Its popularity skyrocketed after the closure of BX Thailand in September 2019.

Though many other exchanges operate in Thailand, their services are not par with the market leader. Binance, which leads in the global crypto markets, only offer services with Thai baht on its peer-to-peer platform.

“It is a very exciting time for the digital asset industry. We will provide the best trading experience in Thailand with our globally renowned expertise,” Peeradej Tanruangporn, Upbit Thailand’s CEO, said in a statement. “Also, we will collaborate with regulated digital asset businesses in Thailand as well as global players to introduce innovative digital asset services in a responsible and compliant manner.”

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