Upbit to delist Sophon (SOPH) on Nov. 16 over disclosure and supply-plan concerns

Upbit users holding Sophon (SOPH) have until Dec. 16 to move their tokens to another wallet. In a notice posted at 4 p.m. KST on Oct. 15, Upbit said it would end trading support for SOPH at 3 p.m. KST on Nov. 16, closing its Korean won (KRW), bitcoin (BTC) and tether (USDT) markets for the token. The decision comes about one year and four months after SOPH began trading on Upbit on May 28, 2025.

Open orders will be canceled, and withdrawals cost 300 SOPH

Upbit warned that assets sent by mistake after the withdrawal period ends could take a very long time to recover for technical reasons. After this notice, it will no longer support airdrops, wallet upgrades or hard forks for SOPH. The next day, Oct. 16, Upbit also announced that it would end trading for Zilliqa (ZIL). Both tokens will stop trading at 3 p.m. KST on Nov. 16.

As Sophon winds down its own chain, Upbit cites disclosure problems

Sophon raised $60 million in 2024 to build its own blockchain, Sophon Chain. It is now shutting that business down. "The Sophon Chain is being wound down," Sophon's official documentation says. Since June 25, deposits into Sophon Chain have been disabled, and the chain has been disconnected from LayerZero, a protocol that moves tokens between different blockchains. Sophon describes SOPH as an ERC-20 token native to Ethereum. Rewards for holders of Guardian NFTs, which grant node operating rights, have also accrued on Ethereum since 00:00 GMT on Sept. 29.

Upbit halted SOPH deposits and withdrawals at 11 a.m. KST on Sept. 8 to accommodate the switch, citing the end of the Sophon Chain network service. Three days later, at 7 p.m. KST on Sept. 11, it reopened deposits and withdrawals on the Ethereum network and deleted the old Sophon Chain deposit addresses. Sophon has repositioned itself as a company that builds apps instead of running its own chain. It has put forward a payment card called Pyre as its first product and said it would use business revenue to buy back and burn SOPH. Its official documentation puts the first burn at more than 46.5 million tokens. The original supply was 10 billion SOPH.

When Upbit designated SOPH as an investment caution asset at 3 p.m. KST on Sept. 22, it pointed to disclosure. The exchange said material information had not been disclosed in a timely manner through appropriate electronic channels. It also reviewed how much the circulating supply plan had changed, whether procedures for such changes existed, and whether those procedures were transparent and reasonable. Upbit concluded there were multiple shortcomings that could harm users. The designation was set to run through the second week of October. In its Oct. 15 notice, Upbit said that after further careful review, it had determined the reasons for the designation had not been resolved. The decision to delist came 23 days after the caution designation. On Bithumb, SOPH was also marked as a caution asset as of Oct. 17.

From 315 won on day one to about 3 won

Just before the notice, at 3:50 p.m. KST on Oct. 15, SOPH traded at 3.70 won on Upbit. In the 10 minutes after the notice went out at 4 p.m., it fell as low as 3.27 won, a drop of about 12%. About 660 million won worth of SOPH changed hands in those 10 minutes alone, and trading value for all of Oct. 15 came to 3.7 billion won.

As of 5:31 p.m. KST on Oct. 17, SOPH traded at 3.17 won on Upbit. Earlier that day it hit 3.12 won, a new low since its listing. That is about half its Sept. 21 close of 6.11 won, the day before the caution designation, and nearly 99% below the 315-won high it set on its first day of trading. At the same time, SOPH traded at 3.105 won on Bithumb. On Binance, it changed hands at $0.00228 in tether. Converted at Upbit's tether price of 1,350 won, that is about 3.08 won, meaning Upbit's price was about 3% higher.