Upbit Crypto Exchange Traders to Face Fiat Services Disruptions over Lunar New Year Period
Customers of South Korea’s market-leading crypto exchange Upbit will be affected by a possible three-day outage over the Lunar New Year period as its banking partner K-Bank relocates its operations to a new headquarters.
South Korean banks – and businesses all over the East Asia region – will close their bricks-and-mortar branches over the period, which begins on Monday, January 31, and ends on February 2. Although K-Bank is a neobank and has no physical branches to speak of, officials likely decided that a move over this period would be the least disruptive – although crypto traders might beg to differ. Crypto markets, unlike their conventional cousins, operate 24/7 365 days of the year.
The bank’s services will go offline from January 30 until the end of February 1.
Per Segye Ilbo, K-Bank will move its entire IT center from the Sangam region of Seoul across town to a new location in Mokdong. K-Bank partners Upbit, and provides all fiat on/off ramping services. South Korean law stipulates that all of a crypto exchange’s fiat transactions be made via real name-authenticated bank accounts provided by a single bank – meaning that KRW withdrawals and deposits will likely be off-limits for three days.
In a sense, it appears that Upbit has been a victim of its own success in this regard. K-Bank stated that a huge influx of new customers had necessitated the move. As Upbit has grown to become the domestic market leader in the past 12 months or so, K-Bank has found it hard to keep up with the demand for new accounts.
The bank has almost increased its usership in the past year. At the end of 2020, K-Bank had under 5 million account holders. By the end of 2021, it had just under 7.2 million customers.
Some media outlets have reported
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