Upbit establishes first cryptocurrency index in South Korea

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Upbit has already proven itself to be a winner in the cryptocurrency industry. The South Korean exchange was first launched in October of last year, and quickly jumped to the top of the charts. It is now the country’s largest by trading volume and is poised to bring a set of tools online that will help all cryptocurrency investors make better investment decisions.

The Upbit Crypto Index (UBCI) will be the first index in South Korea. Upbit plans on offering a total of four indices, with the first three coming online in April. The fourth, its Strategy Index, will be launched at a later date.

The four indices include a Market Index (MI), a Bitcoin Index (BI), a Sector Index (SI) and the Strategy Index (StI). The MI includes the market’s total liquidity weighted by market capitalization. The BI, as the name suggests, will deal strictly in legacy Bitcoin (BTC) trading prices. The SI classifies cryptocurrencies based on their own characteristics and the StI will be a rules-based index that provides a quantitative indicator and tracking yields of investors’ portfolios.

Lee Seok-woo, president of Upbit’s parent company Dunamu said, “The present situation of the cryptocurrency market is quite similar to the traditional financial market based on stocks and bonds in its early stage. Accordingly, as the market gets more sophisticated, the UBCI is expected to play an important role in this area in the future.”

Upbit is available for both Android and iOS platforms. The app was developed by Kakao, a South Korean corporation that offers an array of software options. It created South Korea’s most popular messaging app, Kakao Talk, and provides the country with its second-most popular search engine, Daum, just behind Naver.  It also offers an Uber-like app for taxi, a service similar to YouTube and a music streaming service.

Dunamu has embraced fully the cryptocurrency movement. Apart from running the Upbit exchange, the company has plans to invest $93 million into blockchain technology over the next three years. It is actively investing in blockchain startups and firms that can integrate the technology into their applications, such as artificial intelligence and financial technology (fintech).