The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has refuted claims that it assesses brokerage fees for token listings and has requested evidence from Wu Blockchain.
The exchange stated that all decisions regarding trading support undergo a stringent internal review process without any financial transactions involved. Upbit also cautioned users against fraudulent intermediaries and announced its intention to pursue legal action against any illegal brokers.
In essence, Upbit maintains that its listing decisions stem from internal assessments rather than monetary agreements. The company asserts that token projects cannot simply pay for a spot on the platform.
Listing Fees
This controversy arose following a series of tweets from Wu Blockchain, which alleged that several projects had paid fees to third parties in order to achieve listings on Upbit and competitor Bithumb.
According to Wu Blockchain’s account, intermediary fees were purportedly around $10 million for Upbit and $2 million for Bithumb, with some intermediaries allegedly linked to Upbit’s stakeholders and market makers.
The report also indicated that some projects offered intermediary fees between 3% to 5% of their total token supply. This suggests that rather than a fixed fee, some projects might be allocating a portion of their tokens in exchange for a listing.
Wu Blockchain contacted seven projects, with three denying any involvement in such payments.
Following Upbit’s response, Wu Blockchain revised its posts and stated it “needs to protect the source, so we cannot disclose specific information.”