Bdan turns profitable three months after acquisition… “operating profit of 2.8 billion won achieved”

Bdan (Bdan), the Busan Digital Asset Exchange, said on the 1st that it posted operating profit of about 2.82 billion won last year, successfully returning to the black just three months after being acquired.

Bdan’s platform is a precious-metals trading service previously operated by Korea Gold Exchange Digital Asset, and Bdan completed the acquisition in September last year. Prior to the acquisition, it recorded an operating loss of about 4.89 billion won in 2024. Since then, results improved by about 7.7 billion won in a year, shifting to a profitable structure. Over the same period, the operating profit margin rose about 570 percentage points, from –510.4% to 58.2%, while trading volume also jumped more than 90%, from 253.6 billion won to 482.2 billion won.

The turnaround is attributed to management-efficiency measures led by Kim Sang-min, CEO of the Busan Digital Asset Exchange. Analysts say it is significant that the company delivered results without workforce restructuring, instead improving its business structure, overhauling its revenue model and strengthening brand communications.

Bdan is also showing progress in boosting digital trading backed by real assets. Monthly trading value of “e-Silver,” a physical silver-based product, surged about 20-fold from 2.7 billion won in January last year to 50.4 billion won in December. That level exceeds the combined annual sales of silver bars—about 30.7 billion won—by the four major banks, including KB Kookmin, NH NongHyup, Shinhan and Woori.

Bdan plans to add new real-asset products such as coffee beans, pu-erh tea and whiskey in the first half of this year. It also plans to diversify revenue streams by expanding its “Chagok Chagok” subscription service, which has surpassed a cumulative 50,000 accounts, launching an IP business based on its character “VIVABU,” and introducing a buy-now-pay-later service.

Kim Sang-min, CEO of Bdan, said, “This performance improvement is the market proving Bdan’s potential,” adding, “Digitization of real assets will become a core trend in the asset market going forward.”