From 85% to 9%: The Listing Logic of Korean Exchanges Has Changed Drastically—Are Tokens Safer, but Is the Business Harder to Do?

South Korea’s five major KRW exchanges have sharply shifted listing practices, with the share of Korea-only token debuts falling from 85% in 2019 to 9% in 2024 and still only about 10% in 2026 after excluding assets first traded on overseas futures markets, according to Bonanza Lab data on Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax. The change follows the 2021 Specific Financial Information Act and the 2024 listing best-practice rules from the DAXA exchange alliance, which effectively fast-track assets with at least two years of trading history on compliant overseas venues. New KRW listings nonetheless rose from 43 in 2022 to 238 in 2025, with 111 assets, or 47%, added within 30 days of their overseas debut during the bitcoin rally, while 2026 skewed toward mature tokens such as CRV and RSR. The safer mix cut the two-year investment-warning or delisting rate to 10% for 2024 listings from 24% for 2020 listings, and median 30-day price declines were 7% for assets with over a year of overseas trading versus 39% for those listed in Korea within 30 days. The trade-off is weaker first-day speculative volume for exchanges that rely heavily on spot trading fees, leaving them to diversify revenue and generate trading demand beyond listings.