How to buy IOST in Asia, one step at a time

The short answer

Buying IOST comes down to four moves: pick an exchange that lists it, verify your identity and deposit money, buy IOST on the order book, and (if you want self-custody) withdraw it to a wallet with the correct memo. The quest card at the top of this page walks through those four stages. The rest of the guide explains the choices behind each one, because that is where people lose money.

The single most important decision is the venue. In Asia, the honest default is a regulated domestic exchange: it accepts your local currency, it answers to a regulator you can complain to, and in some countries it keeps you on the right side of tax rules. Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia all have local exchanges with IOST markets. Vietnam and Taiwan do not, so people there usually take a crypto route through a global exchange. We cover both paths below, country by country.

Two things this guide will not do: quote a live price or tell you whether to buy. The IOST price page shows the live market, and our risk page covers the uncomfortable questions. IOST is still more than 99% below its January 2018 high, and it can move sharply in both directions within days. Only buy what you could lose.

Step 1: pick a venue

Start by asking three questions about any exchange. Is it licensed or registered in the country where you live? Does it list IOST against a currency you can actually deposit? And is the market busy enough that your order will fill near the displayed price? A venue that fails the first question can freeze your account or put you in breach of local rules. A venue that fails the third will quietly charge you through a wide spread.

If your country has a domestic exchange with IOST, use it. It accepts bank transfers in your currency, applies local investor protections, and its deposit and withdrawal notices are written for you. If your country has no IOST listing, the next best option is a domestic exchange where you can buy crypto with local money. You then move that crypto to a global exchange that lists IOST. Our IOST exchange comparison lists every venue by country, with pairs and relative liquidity, and each country guide goes deeper into the local rules.

Global exchanges are where most IOST volume actually trades. Binance runs the deepest IOST/USDT book, and OKX, Gate, MEXC, KuCoin, Bitget and HTX also list IOST/USDT. Bybit has only an IOST perpetual contract, no spot market, so you cannot buy and withdraw real IOST there. Depth does not make a global exchange the right choice for every reader. Several of these firms have received warnings from Japan’s FSA, and none is licensed in Vietnam or registered in Taiwan.

Routes by country

Here is the practical starting point for each market we cover. The table names the venues, not a winner. Liquidity and fees change, so open the linked country page before you sign up anywhere.

Japan

Four FSA-registered exchanges handle IOST: Coincheck (the first, from 8 Sep 2020), OKJ, BitTrade and Binance Japan. Coincheck and OKJ run IOST/JPY order books. BITPOINT and CoinTrade dropped IOST in summer 2026, so older blog posts that send you there are out of date. IOST is also on the JVCEA green list. For Japanese residents the honest recommendation is simple: use one of the four registered exchanges, and use its order book rather than its instant-buy desk. Our Coincheck review covers fees and the app’s quirks in detail.

South Korea

Upbit has listed KRW-IOST since 25 Jul 2018 and also runs a BTC-IOST market. It is the second-largest IOST venue in the world after Binance. Bithumb has a smaller but active IOST/KRW book, and Coinone’s is very thin. Upbit needs Korean real-name verification and a K Bank account, so it is effectively for residents. The Upbit review explains its free IOST withdrawals and its security history.

Thailand

Bitkub has offered IOST/THB since 27 Nov 2018 and is the only THB order book for IOST we found. You fund it with PromptPay or a transfer from a Thai bank account in your own name. Binance TH, also SEC-licensed, offers IOST/USDT only. Gains on SEC-licensed venues fall under Thailand’s 2025–2029 capital-gains exemption, which is another reason to stay local. Read the Bitkub review before you sign up; its governance record matters.

Indonesia

IOST is on the official CFX tradable-asset list, so licensed exchanges may offer it. Bittime runs the deepest IOST/IDR book, Indodax also has IOST/IDR but with very little activity, and Tokocrypto offers IOST/USDT. Selling on a domestic platform carries a 0.21% final income tax, against 1% on foreign platforms. The Indodax review covers its 2024 hack and why we point to Bittime for depth.

Vietnam and Taiwan

Neither market has a local exchange with IOST. In Vietnam, no pilot-exchange licence had been found in our research, and Decree 284 fines domestic investors VND 30–50 million for trading on platforms not licensed by the Ministry of Finance. Most people still buy crypto by P2P and then IOST on a global exchange, but you should know that this carries legal risk. In Taiwan, people typically buy crypto with TWD on an FSC-registered platform such as MAX or BitoPro, then trade it for IOST on an overseas exchange that is not registered in Taiwan. The Binance review explains that route and its limits.

The crypto route, explained

Crypto is the bridge currency of the IOST market. Binance’s only active IOST pair is against a stablecoin, and most global venues quote IOST the same way. So if you cannot buy IOST with local money, you buy crypto first, then swap. The extra step costs you one more trading fee and one network fee, which is why the domestic route usually wins where it exists.

Where you buy crypto depends on what money you hold. Domestic exchanges in Thailand and Indonesia sell crypto for local currency. In Taiwan, MAX and BitoPro do. In Vietnam, P2P desks are the common path. If you want to pay by card, CEX.IO is one long-running option (running since 2013) for buying crypto or BNB with a Visa or Mastercard, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Be clear about what it is: it does not list IOST, it does not serve Japan, Asian users contract with CEX OVRS LLC in Nevis, which holds no Asian licence, and it is not licensed by Thailand’s SEC or in Vietnam. Cards are charged in USD, EUR or GBP, so a THB, IDR or VND card will go through your bank’s currency conversion.

Stage one: get your crypto

If your country has no IOST listing, the first hop is a stablecoin. Buy crypto or BNB with a card, then move it to an exchange that lists IOST.

Start with crypto

There is a second, more technical path. Since the IOST 3.0 upgrade, IOST also exists as a BEP-20 token on BNB Chain, contract 0xAf48B7e315a52518CfBF7d96C455D9dFAD94cB48. Some people buy BNB, send it to a BNB Chain wallet such as MetaMask, and swap it for BEP-20 IOST on a decentralized exchange. This works, but it is the easiest place to get scammed. Fake tokens copy the IOST name, and only that exact contract address is official. Many exchanges, including Coincheck and Upbit, accept only IOST on its own L1 network, so BEP-20 IOST cannot simply be deposited there. Read our IOST 3.0 explainer before you try it.

Step 2: verify and fund your account

Every regulated exchange will ask for identity verification before you can deposit. Expect a photo ID, a selfie or video check and proof of address. In Japan, Coincheck uses smartphone eKYC with a Japanese ID. In Korea, Upbit ties your account to a real-name K Bank account. Thai nationals verify on Bitkub with their Thai ID through NDID or Dip-Chip, and foreign residents need a passport plus a Thai residence document. Approval can take minutes or days, so do it before the moment you want to buy.

Payment methods follow the country. Japanese exchanges take bank transfers. Coincheck’s bank deposits are free apart from your own bank’s fee, while konbini and quick deposits cost ¥770 under ¥30,000. Korean exchanges take KRW from the linked bank, and Upbit’s KRW deposits are free. Thai users pay by PromptPay QR or bank transfer from an account in their own name. Indonesian exchanges accept bank transfer or virtual account, and many also offer QRIS or e-wallets, though fees vary by platform. Cards are rare on local Asian exchanges, which is one reason the card-to-crypto route exists at all.

Cheapest money in, cheapest money out

A bank transfer in your own currency is nearly always the cheapest way to fund an IOST purchase. Cards and convenience-store payments are faster, but fees, FX conversion and lower limits eat into small purchases. Think about the exit too: you will want to withdraw to the same bank later.

One Thai-specific trap: Bitkub accounts approved from 1 Jan 2025 had crypto withdrawals suspended from 3 Feb 2025 until extra verification was completed. If you plan to move IOST off the exchange, finish every verification level up front.

販売所 vs 取引所: why the same IOST costs more on one screen

Japanese exchanges usually offer two ways to buy the same coin, and the difference is the most expensive thing beginners miss. The 販売所 (hanbaijo) is a dealer desk: you buy from the exchange at a price it sets, with no visible fee. The 取引所 (torihikijo) is an order book: you trade with other users at prices they set, and pay a small, published fee. Coincheck’s app steers you to the 販売所 by default, so you have to switch on purpose.

A worked example makes the gap concrete. Say you spend ¥10,000 on IOST. If the 販売所 spread is 3% at that moment, roughly ¥300 of your money is the dealer’s margin. On the 取引所, a taker order costs 0.10%, or about ¥10, plus whatever gap exists between the best bid and ask. Do that monthly for a year and the dealer desk has cost you thousands of yen more. Coincheck itself says the 販売所 spread varies with market conditions, and for some coins it lists a range of 1.7% to 7.0%.

The order book has its own catch: Japan’s IOST/JPY books are thin. On a quiet day the gap between the best buy and sell prices can exceed one percent, and a large market order can climb several price levels. The fix is a limit order, covered in the next step. Korea, Thailand and Indonesia mostly run order books, so the same logic applies there: check the spread before you click.

Step 3: place the order

Open the IOST market in your currency (IOST/JPY, KRW-IOST, IOST/THB, IOST/IDR or IOST/USDT) and look at the order book before you type anything. You want to see the best ask, the best bid, and how much IOST sits at each price. If the top ask only covers part of your order, a market order will fill the rest at worse prices. A limit order at or just above the best ask fills most of your order at a price you chose, and you can cancel the remainder.

Check the minimums. OKJ’s IOST-JPY book has a minimum size of 10 IOST, and Bitkub’s IOST/THB market a minimum order of 10 THB. Fees are shown on the order screen. Published rates include Coincheck’s 0.05% maker and 0.10% taker on IOST/JPY, Bitkub’s flat 0.25% per its fee page, and Binance’s 0.10% at the regular tier. After the trade, open your balance and confirm that the IOST arrived. If you want to see what the amount is worth in your currency, use the IOST converter.

Step 4: withdraw to a wallet (or don’t)

You do not have to withdraw. Leaving IOST on a regulated exchange is reasonable for small amounts, and some exchanges pay the IOST 3.0 airdrop instalments to holders who stayed there. Coincheck, BitTrade, Upbit and Bitkub all distribute it. If you prefer self-custody, the withdrawal is the riskiest step of the whole quest, so slow down.

First, pick the network. Native IOST lives on the IOST L1 chain, where addresses are human-readable account names of 5 to 11 characters. BEP-20 IOST lives on BNB Chain and uses 0x addresses. Coincheck and Upbit withdraw on L1 only. Binance offers both, with a 1 IOST fee on L1 and 29 IOST on BEP-20. Your wallet decides the network: iWallet Pro or TokenPocket for L1, MetaMask or Trust Wallet for BEP-20. Note that an L1 account has to be created by an existing account, and the setup costs around 11.6 IOST in pledged gas and RAM.

Second, the memo. Exchanges receive L1 IOST into one shared deposit account and use a memo to tell customers apart. Sending to an exchange without the memo can make the funds unrecoverable. Sending to your own wallet usually needs no memo. Our guide to sending IOST covers memos, fees, the forgotten-memo problem and a pre-send checklist. Before any large move, send a small test and confirm it on the IOST explorer.

Selling IOST and cashing out

Selling is the buying quest in reverse. If your IOST sits in a wallet, send it back to a local exchange with a pair in your currency: L1 IOST with the exchange’s memo, to the network the exchange supports. Sell on the order book with a limit order, then withdraw fiat to a bank account in your own name. Coincheck charges ¥407 for a JPY withdrawal, Upbit ₩1,000 for KRW, and Thai exchanges require a Thai bank account in your name.

If you bought through the crypto route, the exit usually runs the same way: sell IOST for crypto on the global exchange, send it to a local platform, and sell it for local currency there. Every hop adds a fee and a chance to pick the wrong network, so keep the route short.

Tax is part of the exit. In Japan, crypto gains are generally miscellaneous income (雑所得), taxed at up to about 55% combined. In Korea, a 22% tax on gains above ₩2.5 million is scheduled for 2027, though another deferral is being debated. Thailand exempts gains made through SEC-licensed venues from 2025 to 2029. Indonesia takes a 0.21% final tax on domestic sales, and Vietnam’s framework sets 0.1% per transfer on licensed providers. Each country page links to the tax authority. None of this is tax advice.

Common mistakes that cost IOST buyers money

Check the memo. Then check it again!

Using the dealer desk out of habit. In Japan, the 販売所 is the default in most apps, and its spread is where small purchases bleed. Switch to the 取引所.

Market orders on a thin book. IOST books in JPY and IDR can be shallow. A big market order can fill well above the price you saw. Use limit orders and split large buys.

Wrong network, missing memo. BEP-20 IOST sent to an exchange that only supports the L1 network, or an L1 deposit without the memo, are the two classic loss stories. Coincheck states that it cannot cancel a completed transfer, including after memo mistakes.

Unregistered overseas exchanges in Japan. The FSA has sent warnings to Binance (the global site), Bybit, MEXC, Bitget, KuCoin and LBank, among others. Binance Japan is a separate, registered company. Japanese residents should stay on the register.

Fake tokens and fake helpers. Spam tokens named “IOST” exist on both the L1 and BNB Chain. On BNB Chain, check the contract address. On L1, check that you hold the native iost token. Nobody legitimate will DM you to “help” with a purchase or an airdrop claim.

Moving coins during maintenance. Deposits sent while an exchange has paused the IOST network can sit in limbo for days. Check the exchange’s notice page first, especially around upgrades like v4.0.0.

Get these right and buying IOST is routine: a regulated venue, a funded account, a limit order, and a careful withdrawal. If you want help choosing the venue, start with the exchange comparison.