Bithumb’s Zero-Fee Blitz Targets Upbit’s Market Dominance

South Korea's crypto exchange war just went nuclear—Bithumb drops trading fees to zero in direct assault on Upbit's throne.

The Fee-Free Revolution

Bithumb isn't just competing—it's declaring total fee warfare. Zero spot trading fees across all pairs, slicing through Upbit's revenue model like a hot knife through regulatory butter. Market makers get instant liquidity, retail traders keep 100% of their gains, and suddenly everyone's questioning why they ever paid fees in the first place.

Strategic Market Gambit

This isn't just generosity—it's a calculated market share grab timed precisely when regulators are breathing down everyone's necks. Bithumb's betting that massive volume spikes will offset lost fee revenue, banking on traders flocking from Upbit's still-fee-heavy platform. The move pressures competitors to follow suit or risk becoming irrelevant overnight.

Because nothing says 'healthy competition' like two giants burning cash to see who blinks first—just your typical Tuesday in crypto finance.

Strategic Shift to Attract Users

While transactions for these free-fee tokens will count toward Bithumb’s membership tiers, they will not qualify for trading points or Maker rewards.

This campaign stands out from previous events because it is applied automatically without a separate registration. Bithumb previously held similar fee-free events in 2023 and 2024, but those required users to register a coupon to participate.

Industry analysts view this MOVE as a strategic effort to gain domestic market share amid heightened competition. While the country’s largest exchange, Upbit, still dominates the Korean Won market, Bithumb has been rapidly closing the gap, showing strong growth in trading volume and new users. This large-scale fee-waiver policy is seen as a clear strategy to actively attract users and accelerate its pursuit of Upbit’s market dominance.

According to data from Mobile Index on September 16, Upbit’s market share was 59.08% last month, while Bithumb’s was 33.42%, indicating a narrowing gap between the two exchanges. On September 9, Bithumb’s share even reached 45.6%, closing the difference with Upbit (51.6%) to just six percentage points.

Just a year or two ago, the gap was much broader. In September 2023, Upbit held a dominant 60.7% market share, more than three times Bithumb’s 17.6%. However, the challenger began its comeback that December, reaching 21.7% and ultimately climbing over 10 percentage points in just one year to hit 31.46% by November of last year.

How Bithumb Gained Ground on Upbit

Bithumb enhanced user engagement in 2024 through UI upgrades, game-mission rewards, auto-trading tools, and Bitcoin dominance indicators. In 2025, it shifted to a more aggressive market stance, listing more new tokens than Upbit and focusing on competitively traded “value coins,” underscoring Bithumb’s push to narrow the market-share gap.

Upbit is also actively defending its market dominance by significantly increasing the number of coins it lists. However, it did not defend its market lead by pioneering listings but by following Bithumb’s moves, adding many of the tokens Bithumb listed first. This reactive strategy contrasts with Bithumb’s aggressive, proactive approach.

In South Korea, crypto accounts in domestic exchanges account for roughly 30% of the population. According to data from Kaiko Research, the South Korean Won (KRW) has established itself as the second most used fiat currency in cryptocurrency trading, only behind the US dollar.