Upbit Denies Claimed Listing Fees, Asks Wu Blockchain for Evidence

The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, has rejected claims that it demands brokerage fees for token listings. It has called on Wu Blockchain to provide evidence to support these allegations.

The exchange underscored that all decisions regarding trading support undergo a rigorous internal review process, devoid of any financial remuneration. Upbit also cautioned users to be wary of fraudulent intermediaries and declared it would pursue legal action against unlawful brokers.

In essence, Upbit asserts that its listing decisions are based on internal assessments rather than financial transactions. The company maintains that token projects cannot merely purchase their way onto the platform.

Listing fees

This controversy ensues after a sequence of tweets from Wu Blockchain, which alleged that several projects paid fees to intermediaries to ensure listings on Upbit and its competitor, Bithumb.

As per Wu Blockchain’s tweet, these intermediary fees were supposedly around $10 million for Upbit and $2 million for Bithumb, with certain intermediaries reportedly linked to Upbit’s shareholders and market makers.

The tweet further suggested that some projects provided intermediary fees ranging from 3% to 5% of their total token supply. This indicates that instead of paying a fixed fee, some projects might be offering a share of their tokens to guarantee a listing.

Wu Blockchain contacted seven projects, with three refuting any engagement in such payments. Following Upbit’s response, Wu Blockchain updated its posts and stated it “needs to protect the source, so we cannot disclose specific information.”