Eight of South Korea's 11 coin-market cryptocurrency exchanges that hold or are seeking a VASP (virtual asset service provider) license did not record a single bitcoin trade over the past two years, according to an analysis by The Seoul Economic Daily based on figures as of late last month. The finding has intensified doubts about whether some platforms still operate as real exchanges, even as a number of them continue posting notices and other crypto-related content. The review identified Flybit, BTX, Prabang, Bitkmon, Coredax, Crypto.com, Boravit and Oasis Exchange as having no bitcoin trades during the two-year period. The three venues that did show any volume recorded only tiny amounts in the week from the 5th to the 11th of this month, with about 0.1 bitcoin traded at Enex and roughly 0.00006 bitcoin at Foblgate, while Bible saw no trades during that week. One industry official said repeated sub-one-bitcoin trades at fixed daily intervals could indicate wash trading (fake trading to inflate activity). Despite the lack of trading, most of the exchanges remain visibly active online. Excluding Bitkmon, whose website had display problems, the other 10 exchanges had recently posted content. Flybit and Prabang uploaded new items on the 12th and 11th of this month, while BTX continued posting notices through the 30th of last month. Industry observers say that maintaining websites and occasional updates can help create the appearance of normal operations, which may support higher sale values for companies holding licenses. That matters because the market value of licensed crypto entities is reportedly rising again. Industry sources said some coin-market exchanges that had lowered asking prices to as little as 5 billion won during the crypto downturn are now seeking around 20 billion won. Analysts cited takeover interest from overseas exchanges including Coinbase, Bitget and Bybit as a factor lifting valuations for both major won-based exchanges and smaller coin-market platforms. The trend is prompting calls for regulators to clean up exchanges accused of effectively engaging in "license trading" rather than running substantive businesses.