Upbit parent company Dunamu triples shareholder dividends following 85% YoY profit growth

Dunamu, the company behind South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, has tripled its cash dividends to common stockholders compared to the previous year, after reporting significant growth in profits for last year.

At its shareholders' meeting on Friday, Dunamu approved last year's financial statement, which allotted 8,777 Korean won ($5.99) in dividends per common share, compared to 2,937 won ($2) per share in the previous year.

According to its official disclosure, the company has earmarked a total amount of nearly 300 billion won ($204.5 million) for cash dividends under the "distribution of retained earnings."

The parent company of Upbit saw an 85.1% year-over-year increase in yearly operating profit in 2024, reporting about 1.18 trillion won ($809 million). Its net profit for the year expanded by 22.2% to 983.8 billion won ($671 million).

"The increase in sales and operating profit appears to be affected by factors such as the bitcoin halving and favorable investment sentiment," Dunamu said in its press release. 

The company said global liquidity expansion following pro-crypto Donald Trump's election as U.S. President and expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts appear to have had a "big influence" on its strong performance.

While limited to South Korean investors, Upbit stands as the country's dominant crypto exchange and a major global player in the centralized exchange market. In February, the exchange processed a monthly volume of $101 billion, according to The Block's data dashboard.

However, Upbit recently faced increased scrutiny from local financial regulators as South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit took issue with its alleged support for transactions with unregistered foreign exchanges and know-your-customer (KYC) violations.

While the FIU sought to restrict new users' external crypto deposits and withdrawals on Upbit for three months, a Seoul court granted Dunamu's injunction to halt the penalty for 30 days, local media reported.