South Korea’s crypto market will be one of the world’s busiest in 2025, with avid retail investors driving the global rally in XRP, Dogecoin, and many of the meme coins that dominated this cycle.
This feature is part of CoinDesk Most Influential List of 2025.
At the center of that liquidity was Upbit, with the exchange regularly capturing more than 80% of the country’s domestic trading volume and sometimes causing global prices to fluctuate when a coin was listed or skyrocketed. That market has been shaped more than anyone else by one businessman: Thurgoo Lee.
When he announced that he would step down as CEO in 2025, unusual questions arose in the cryptocurrency industry both in South Korea and abroad. Will the world’s most active retail crypto market operate just as well without the leader who defined its structure and risk culture, or will his exit change the country’s liquidity balance, which has become crucial to global price formation?
Part of Lee’s influence stems from his management style, which made him stand out in a notoriously hierarchical corporate environment. Within Dunamu, Upbit’s parent company, he was known for his horizontal approach that encouraged open communication and pushed responsibility downwards. This is a management style that is common in Western startups but unusual in South Korea, where it is conservative and strict.
At Upbit, this approach has shaped how we address risk for our users. Under his leadership, the exchange built a system to recover more than 94% of mistakenly transferred deposits, established an Investor Protection Center to provide education and legal support, and expanded its compliance and security program through industry certifications.
In a market where risky and “decadent” trading is a matter of personal pride, these measures have helped Upbit establish itself as the safest trading venue for Korean investors.
Even as Lee prepared to retreat, Upbit’s advantage remained undiminished. That list still brings in a fair amount of flavor of the day meme coins, and traffic continues to grow.
Korean retail traders are going strong, and thanks to Mr. Lee, Upbit continues to be a place where their instincts are amplified.