Bithumb is a South Korean

cryptocurrency exchange A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may acce ...

. Founded in 2014, Bithumb Korea has 8 million registered users, 1 million mobile app users, and a current cumulative transaction volume has exceeded USD $1 trillion.

History

In October 2018, BK Global Consortium signed a deal to buy a majority share of BTC Holding Co. which is Bithumb's largest investor. On January 22, 2019, OTC-listed holding company Blockchain Industries signed a binding letter of intent to merge with Bithumb on or before March 1, 2019. The plan is to form a new publicly traded entity called the Blockchain Exchange Alliance (BXA) that would ‘up-list’ on either the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

and make BXA the first major cryptocurrency exchange to go public. On April 11, 2019, Bithumb announced a net loss of KRW205.5 billion (US$180 million) in 2018, a sharp turnaround from the KRW427.2 billion profit in 2017, despite 2018's sales rising 17.5% to KRW391.7 million. The company blamed the loss on the sharp decline in the price of cryptocurrencies and reduced trading volume.

Controversy

In June 2017, hackers stole user information from a Bithumb employee's personal computer. In January 2018, Bithumb was raided by the government for alleged tax evasion. They were found not guilty, but still had to pay nearly $28 million in back taxes. In June 2018, approximately $32 million of cryptocurrency was stolen from Bithumb in a hack. In January 2019, 30 out of 340 total Bithumb employees were laid off in response to declining trading volume and profits in 2018. On March 29, 2019, Bithumb said that it was hacked. It pointed its fingers at insiders. Nearly $20 million worth of

EOS In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Eos (; Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric ''Āṓs'') is the goddess and personification of the dawn, who rose each morning from her home at ...

and

Ripple Ripple may refer to: Science and technology * Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid ** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves * Ripple (electri ...

tokens were estimated to have been stolen. On September 2, 2020, Bithumb was reported in local Korean news that the Bithumb exchange was raided by the

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA; Hangul: ko, 서울지방경찰청; Hanja: ) is the primary police force for the South Korean capital city of Seoul; it is not an independent police force in of itself, but is one of 16 provincial sub- ...

's Intelligent Crime Investigation Unit. According to the report, the search and seizure is related to suspicion of

investment fraud Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

References

External links

* {{Cryptocurrencies, state=expanded Bitcoin exchanges Cryptocurrencies