Exclusive | Upbit to List in the U.S., More Profitable than Coinbase but Valued at Only 1/7
Original Article Title: "Exclusive | In-Depth Look at Upbit's U.S. Listing: South Korea's Largest Crypto Exchange More Profitable Than Coinbase, Yet Valued at Only 1/7"
Original Article Author: Wan Wan Lin, Deepchain Beating
On November 27, 2025, the South Korean cryptocurrency market experienced a "mini earthquake."
As the absolute leader in the Korean market, Upbit fell victim to a hacker attack, with 54 billion Korean won (approximately $36 million) disappearing. Upbit later revised this to 44.5 billion Korean won of lost Solana network assets.
However, the market's panic was quickly absorbed.
Because based on Upbit's quarterly net profit of about $200 million, Upbit would only need 2 weeks to earn back the stolen amount.
Just three days before the theft, Upbit's parent company Dunamu announced a "century-old marriage" with South Korea's internet giant Naver Financial, preparing for an IPO in the U.S. stock market with a current valuation of $10.3 billion.
Behind this merger, there are not only old and new Korean chaebols but also a Korean super financial group preparing to go public in the U.S.
In this world, many seemingly isolated "black swan" events, when connected, often turn out to be just a speck of dust falling from a huge "gray rhino."
Theft and Merger
First and foremost, we must characterize the nature of this "theft."
$36 million is a large sum of money. However, in the face of a trading platform, we must learn to do the math.
According to Dunamu, Upbit's parent company, at the annual shareholders' meeting through the 2024 financial report: full-year operating profit of 11.8 trillion Korean won (approximately $8-9 billion), net profit of 983.8 billion Korean won (approximately $700 million), a year-on-year growth of 22.2%.
Evidently, the amount stolen this time is merely akin to a mosquito bite on its vast balance sheet.
Currently, the South Korean Financial Supervisory Service has tentatively identified the orchestrator as the North Korean "Lazarus" group. The official assessment is that this attack replicated the "permission hijacking" technique from six years ago, where hackers likely stole or impersonated administrator accounts to transfer funds, rather than directly infiltrating servers. Currently, South Korean regulatory authorities have urgently dispatched to Upbit's headquarters for an on-site investigation.
However, it was precisely the bite from a mosquito that exposed a deeper issue: Upbit has become too big. So big that its cash flow is tempting to hackers and its very existence is enough to make regulators wary.
That is why the "case of the century" three days ago appeared so crucial. If the theft showcased Upbit's financial power, then the merger revealed its anxiety and ambition.
According to public information, Naver Financial (Naver's financial arm) will engage in a full equity swap with Dunamu (Upbit's parent company).
Here is an extremely counterintuitive data point. In terms of operating profit, Upbit stands at 1.18 trillion Korean won; Naver Financial is only at 103.5 billion Korean won.
In other words, Upbit earns ten times more than the other party.
With such a vast difference in profitability, why merge?
Logically, this should have been an "upward attack" or "takeover" by Upbit against Naver Financial. But in the world of capital, the logic is never that the one with more money is automatically the leader.
Therefore, behind this merger lies more of a collaboration of South Korea's political interest groups. Upbit extends an olive branch to Naver, representing the "new political power faction" of the internet and emerging industries, in exchange for Naver's robust political protection. It is only through this kind of structural reorganization, leveraging Naver's shell, or using Naver's endorsement, that one can circumvent South Korean regulations and directly access the US NASDAQ.
For more details on Upbit's listing, we exclusively interviewed Jason Huang, the founder of NDV Dollar Venture, an investor with extensive experience and in-depth research on the South Korean crypto trading ecosystem.
NDV is a compliance-focused hedge fund specializing in "digital asset equities + derivatives," known for its stringent risk management practices with independent custody and auditing. In terms of past performance, NDV's inaugural Fund I has shown outstanding results, achieving a 275.5% settlement return within two years.
Below is our interview.
Interview on Upbit Listing
Insight: What does Upbit expect to achieve with a US listing?
Jason: The current merger proposal between Upbit's parent company Dunamu and Naver Financial may be the largest merger in crypto history.
After the merger is completed, following the typical preparation cycle for the stock market, it is expected to take 8-9 months. If everything goes smoothly, it is ideally expected to file for listing in the second half of 2026.
From what I currently understand, the world's largest top-tier investment banks are competing to be their underwriters, as it is also one of the best-performing projects in terms of profitability. For example, Kraken only turned a profit in the third quarter of this year and its valuation has already reached $200 billion.
Dynamcis: How is Upbit's compliance and readiness for listing?
Jason: Upbit is a very mature and transparent company, essentially equivalent to a "pre-listed company." It is currently audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Korea and is also one of the only five compliant trading platforms in Korea. Therefore, its level of compliance is similar to that of Coinbase in its early days.
The company has no preferred shares, only common shares, and its information disclosure is transparent. The preparations for listing have been basically completed, and after the merger is finalized, we are only waiting for regulatory approval.
Dynamics: Upbit is currently valued at $10.3 billion. How do you view this valuation?
Jason: This is clearly a project that is significantly discounted in the primary market.
Comparing it to the U.S. trading platform Coinbase, which currently has a market value of around $70 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of approximately 30-40 times, and Robinhood's P/E ratio that even reaches 60-70 times.
In contrast, Upbit's valuation in the primary market is only around $10 billion. Even considering the "Korea discount," Upbit remains a very attractive value proposition. The bankers from top-tier investment banks believe this is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity.
The Korean stock market has long suffered from the so-called "Korea Discount," which is due to factors such as geopolitical risk and chaebol governance structure, causing Korean companies' valuations to generally be lower than similar global companies.
However, if Upbit is just a profitable trading platform, its ceiling is the next Coinbase. But what is truly more valuable is the just completed merger.
The stock swap ratio between Upbit's parent company Dunamu and Naver Financial is approximately 1:2.5. If we consider market value: Dunamu has a weight of 3, Naver Financial has a weight of 1. After the merger, the CEO of Upbit's parent company remains the new single largest shareholder.
Dongchao: What does this merger with Naver Financial mean?
Jason: Let's draw an analogy here.
What is Naver? It's like Korea's Google combined with Amazon.
What about Naver Financial? It's like Korea's "Alipay" or "Google Pay".
Therefore, this merger will create an unprecedented financial giant. We can think of it as a trinity of "Coinbase (exchange) + Google Pay (payment) + Circle (stablecoin)."
Dongchao: Why mention Circle?
Because the new Korean government is strongly promoting the Korean Won stablecoin. Referring to Circle's business model of paying substantial annual revenue to Coinbase as "protection money," this process surely cannot bypass Upbit.
Currently, there is no company in the market that can simultaneously possess both a "traditional payment license" and a "crypto exchange license," and both are national-level applications. The valuation logic of this ecosystem loop is no longer a simple P/E ratio; it's the multiplier effect of platform economics, a lucrative business.
If Coinbase represents a "trading platform + stablecoin collaboration" and Robinhood is a "broker + crypto gateway," then in the future, if Upbit completes the merger and issues a Korean Won stablecoin, it will resemble more of a "payment infrastructure + trading platform + native stablecoin" ecosystem.
That's why current investors believe the $10.3 billion valuation is a "steal."
Dongchao: You mentioned Coinbase earlier; will Upbit's operating costs be lower than Coinbase?
Jason: Yes, Upbit's operating cost is only one-tenth of Coinbase's.
Insight: Why is there such a large cost difference?
Jason: Coinbase operates in the United States and competes globally with Robinhood, Binance, Kraken. Therefore, it bears high U.S. labor and compliance costs and is still burning money in continuous competition.
Meanwhile, Upbit operates in the Korean market where competition has essentially been eliminated. As the second-largest spot exchange globally, only behind Binance, Upbit holds an absolute monopoly position.
In economics, this is called "excess rent from natural monopoly," where nearly every additional unit of revenue can be directly converted into net profit.
This has resulted in a significant "valuation gap": a giant with a profit margin far higher than Coinbase, holding a monopoly position, yet its valuation is only one-seventh of Coinbase's.
For investors, this obvious misalignment of value is an enticing opportunity. They are betting on one thing: by listing in the U.S., they can fill this significant valuation gap.
Coinbase operates in the global U.S. market, needing to face continuous competition from rivals like Kraken, Robinhood, while competition in the Korean market has already been largely eliminated. Upbit's monopoly position allows every additional unit of revenue to be more efficiently converted into profit.
Insight: If Upbit's valuation is so undervalued, why would anyone want to sell their first-tier equity?
Jason: Some Koreans believe that the entire listing cycle cannot be fully controlled, and some are concerned about the timing of the listing, fearing it might be during a bear market. Hence, some people wish to cash out at the current stage.
Personally, I believe that even in a bear market phase, a $10.3 billion valuation still offers a strong value proposition.
Insight: Many media reports suggest that Masayoshi Son also played a role in driving this acquisition?
Jason: That's inaccurate. Masayoshi Son only holds shares in Naver's parent company. In this subsidiary merger of Naver Financial, Masayoshi Son is not directly involved. It's like the recent reports of Jack Ma buying Ethereum, which is not true. He is just a shareholder, and maybe Jack Ma himself doesn't even know he bought Ethereum. Similarly, Masayoshi Son doesn't even know he drove their largest acquisition in Korea, haha.
Insight: Let's finally discuss your view on the cryptocurrency market. How do you see the macro market environment for next year?
Jason: We are optimistic about next year. A few months ago, we were interviewed and predicted a 30%-50% pullback within six months, which has now mostly occurred. Retail investors who needed to exit have already done so, and leverage has been mostly cleared.
As long as the U.S. is in a rate-cutting environment next year, the probability of risk assets falling is low, and the market will likely see a good performance.
Epilogue
Back to the beginning.
While retail investors were still lamenting the loss of $35 million by Upbit, true investors were calculating stock-to-stock ratios and planning the Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony.
This is a power transition in Korean business history.
With the merger with Naver, Upbit is demonstrating this governance structure upgrade. The future Upbit will no longer be just a place for trading coins but a comprehensive fintech group integrating payment, trading, and stablecoins.
This is not a power game of who controls whom but a strategic choice to adapt to the global wave of cryptocurrency regulation.
Upbit is becoming a typical example of a non-U.S. cryptocurrency industry: cryptocurrency exchanges from different countries are all heading in the same direction, transitioning from the gray area to the beginning of political cooperation.
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