Korbit (코빗) — Korea's first CEX / SK Square investment / Shinhan real-name account overview

Wiki route

This entry sits under exchanges index. Read it against Korea's 5 major CEX regimes compared — Upbit / Bithumb / Coinone / Korbit / GOPAX for the Korea peer / regulatory context, Upbit / Bithumb for the closest top-tier peers, and global CEX top 10 comparison for the broader system / market boundary.

Established 2013-07 · Korea’s first Bitcoin-KRW trading service · SK Square investment · Shinhan Bank (신한은행) real-name account · VASP filed with KoFIU

1. Corporate / shareholders

• Name: 주식회사 코빗 (Korbit Inc.)
• Established: 2013-07
• Head-office location: Gangnam-gu, Seoul (서울특별시 강남구)
• Investment relationship: SK Square has disclosed an equity investment in Korbit. This entry does not infer a current control percentage or subsidiary status from reports with different as-of dates
• Founder: Tony Lyu (Korbit Inc.) — known as the founder of Korea’s first CEX

2. Registration / license status (Korean regime)

• Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP, 가상자산사업자) registration: registered with the FIU in Korea’s first 2021 registration cohort
• ISMS / ISMS-P certification: holds KISA ISMS-P
• Real-name verified deposit/withdrawal account (실명확인 입출금 계정, real-name account): contract with Shinhan Bank (신한은행)
  • Shinhan Bank is 1 of Korea’s 5 major banks (KB / Shinhan / NH NongHyup / Hana / Woori)
  • Other exchanges’ partner banks can change, so this entry records only the Korbit–Shinhan relationship
• For the detailed regime, see Korea's 5 major CEX regimes compared — Upbit / Bithumb / Coinone / Korbit / GOPAX

3. Handled currencies

• KRW spot market (legal as one of Korea’s 5 major CEXs, 1 )
• Listings change over time, so this entry does not fix an asset count or peer comparison
• Centered on BTC / ETH / major altcoins
• Listing review: DAXA common criteria + Korbit’s own criteria
• The product mix, including any USDT market, should be checked on Korbit’s current product interface with an as-of date

4. Scope of business

• Spot trading (centered on KRW pairs)
• Derivatives / margin trading: not offered under Korea’s VASP regulation
• Staking: limited service
• Fiat deposits: only via the Shinhan Bank real-name account
• NFT marketplace: Korbit NFT (2021 launch), an early mover in handling Klaytn-based NFTs
• B2B / institutional: Korbit Pro, API trading, custody-related services

5. How to read scale information

• Market share, 24h volume, and rank vary by observation time and data provider, so this entry does not adopt fixed values
• Korean CEX comparisons should align the KRW market, the as-of date, and the presence of a real-name account
• Profitability and consolidation scope depend on period-specific disclosures; an equity investment does not establish Korbit’s standalone profit or loss

6. History / major events

Source: The entire table is based on Korbit’s official company profile, the Financial Services Commission’s filing-acceptance announcement, and KoFIU’s virtual-asset service provider filing status, checked on 2026-07-29.

7. Strategic developments

• SK Square investment relationship: the disclosed equity investment is the evidence boundary; subsidiary status and future group Web3 integration are not inferred
• Shinhan Bank relationship: the long-term stability of the real-name account contract; the relationship with Shinhan Bank is consistent with the digital-asset strategy of Shinhan Financial Group (신한금융그룹)
• DAXA participation: together with Upbit / Bithumb / Coinone / GOPAX, standardizes listing criteria within DAXA and distributes the cost of regulatory compliance
• NFT / Korean-network support: records the NFT marketplace and related product history without ranking Korbit as a major venue for particular assets
• 2024 User Protection Act compliance: contribution to the user-protection fund, strengthened surveillance of unfair trading, rebuilding of internal controls
• Comparison boundary: compare KoFIU filing, the real-name account, and product disclosure on the same as-of date instead of inferring market share or profitability

8. Positioning in the industry

Korbit is a historical reference point as the Korean CEX that began a Bitcoin-KRW trading service in 2013. Current comparison treats KoFIU filing, the Shinhan Bank real-name account, and SK Square’s equity investment as separate facts.

Within Korean CEX system comparison, each exchange’s partner bank, filing status, and product scope should be checked at the same as-of date. This entry does not fix a market rank, share band, or future continuity.

Related

• cex-upbit-korea — Korean CEX comparison (most important cross-link)
• cex-bithumb-korea — Korean CEX comparison
• cex-coinone-korea — Korean CEX peer
• cex-gopax-korea — Korean CEX peer
• korea-cex-five-pillars-comparison — Korea 5 major CEX regime comparison
• global-cex-top10-comparison — Global CEX top 10
• global-vasp-regulatory-comparison-matrix — Global VASP regulatory comparison
• INDEX — Exchange domain index

Sources

• Compilation of public information (Korbit official IR / company introduction page, korbit.co.kr)
• Compilation of public information (SK Square disclosures / SK Group IR materials)
• Compilation of public information (FSC / FIU public list of registered virtual-asset service providers)
• Compilation of public information (KISA ISMS-P certification announcement)
• Compilation of public information (Shinhan Bank / 신한은행 real-name verified deposit/withdrawal account coverage)
• Compilation of public information (SK Square Korbit equity-investment disclosure / IR materials)
• Compilation of public information (DAXA self-regulatory consultative body announcement)
• Compilation of public information (Virtual Asset User Protection Act 2024-07 enforcement-related coverage)