Alex Kim

Alex Kim is chief executive officer of Upbit Global, the billing under which Kim appears on the 2026 speaker listing of Coinfest Asia, held in Bali on 20–21 August 2026. An event profile published by CfC St. Moritz describes Kim as founder and chief executive of Upbit APAC Pte. Ltd., a holding entity for the non-Korean businesses of Upbit, with regulated digital asset operations in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

Kim was chief executive of Upbit Singapore Pte. Ltd. when the Singapore exchange was announced in September 2018 (Businesskorea, 20 September 2018), and press releases issued in October 2023 and January 2024 name Kim as its founder and CEO. In October 2023 Upbit Singapore received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a Major Payment Institution licence under the Payment Services Act 2019, and in January 2024 it received the licence itself. Announcing the licence, Kim said it marked "an important step for us to serve institutional and retail clients with cutting-edge digital asset solutions".

According to the January 2024 release, Upbit Singapore is a wholly owned subsidiary of Upbit APAC, which also operates Upbit Exchange (Thailand) Co., Ltd., regulated by Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission, PT. Upbit Exchange Indonesia, regulated by Indonesia's commodity futures regulator BAPPEBTI, and VerifyVASP Pte. Ltd., a Travel Rule compliance provider for digital asset transfers.

Before Upbit, Kim worked at Naver and at Kakao between 2008 and 2017, according to the CfC St. Moritz profile, first leading the search team at Naver and then serving as director of global business at Kakao. Kim is a graduate of the Business Administration Department of Seoul National University.

Kim spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 as a panellist in two sessions on the Hecto Main Stage on 2 June 2026. The first, "After the Flush: What October 10th Revealed About Crypto Market Fragility", also featured Victor Jung, Stephan Lutz and Avtar Sehra and was moderated by Artem Sinyakin. The second, "Banks, Exchanges, and Asset Managers: Who Controls Institutional Access When Markets Move Onchain?", featured Amy Oldenburg and Matthew Sigel, with Frank Chaparro as moderator.