If $100 were invested in each of the 59 tokens listed on Upbit with KRW trading pairs in 2025, as of March 11, 2026, the value of this portfolio would only be 31% of the initial investment (i.e., each dollar would be reduced to $0.31).
Bithumb (144 tokens) exhibited a similar performance, at 31%, while Binance (92 tokens) was slightly lower at 29%.
All three major exchanges resulted in approximately 70% asset depreciation.
Among the 59 tokens listed on Upbit, only two ultimately turned a profit: KITE (up 232.8%) and BARD (up 9.3%).
Bithumb fared slightly better, with 8 out of 144 tokens maintaining positive returns.
The median ROI on Upbit was -80.9%, while for Bithumb, it was -82.1%.
For the 50 tokens that debuted on both major Korean exchanges, the average ROI (-69.4%) was almost identical to the 94 tokens that were exclusively listed on Bithumb (-68.9%).
This data indicates that launching on multiple mainstream exchanges does not guarantee subsequent price performance.
The Binance chart shows that $100 invested in each of the 92 tokens listed in 2025 would yield about $0.29 per dollar today, a 71.7% cumulative loss on a $9,200 stake.
This study follows the same methodology as the Binance analysis to examine tokens with KRW trading pairs on Upbit and Bithumb in 2025.
KITE stood out as an outlier, with a notable increase tied to the gold price trend rather than crypto fundamentals.
The overall conclusion is that listing events, not exchange quality, drive the losses—a global structural issue affecting first-day buyers.
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