The suspected real owner of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Bithumb has been arrested on alleged embezzlement charges on Feb. 2 local time. According to local media reports, Kang Jong-hyun was arrested on charges of alleged embezzlement. The Seoul Southern District Court issued an arrest warrant for the businessman on Jan. 25 with multiple charges, including dereliction of duty, market manipulation, and fraudulent transactions. The 41-year-old is the elder brother of Kang Ji-yeon, the head of Bithumb affiliate Inbiogen. The firm holds the largest share in Vidente Vidente, which is the biggest shareholder of Bithumb with a 34.2% stake. According …

Despite the recent negative crypto and macroeconomic newsflow, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization broke above $1 trillion on Jan. 21. An encouraging sign is that derivatives metrics are not showing increased demand from bearish traders at the moment. Bitcoin (BTC) price gained 8% on the week, stabilizing near the $23,100 level at 18:00 UTC on Jan. 27 as the markets weighed the potential impact of Genesis Capital's bankruptcy on Jan. 19. One area of concern is Genesis Capital's largest debtor is Digital Currency Group (DCG), which happens to be its parent company. Consequently, Grayscale funds management could be at risk, …

The ongoing saga of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb continues, this time with ruling from local courts. On Jan. 13 the South Korean Supreme Court finalized its ruling that the exchange must pay damages to investors over a 1.5-hour service outage on Nov. 12, 2017. According to a local news source, the damages are equivalent to $202, 400 - or 251.4 million in the regional currency won. Initially, a district ruled against the investors, though it was later overturned. The finalized ruling from the Supreme Court ordered damages to be paid ranging from as little as $6 to around …

Lee Jung-hoon, the former chair of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, was found not guilty on Jan. 3 by the 34th Division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Central District Court. Jung-Hoon was on trial under accusations of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Of Specific Economic Crimes due to fraud. The case has been ongoing since October 2018, when the former chairman allegedly defrauded 100 billion won ($70 million) during negotiations for the acquisition of Bithumb from Kim Byung-gun, chairman of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group. Jung-hoon could’ve faced an 8-year sentence had he been …

The former chairman of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, Lee Jung-hoon, could face a possible maximum sentence of eight years in prison if found guilty on charges related to an alleged fraud worth $70 million. Local prosecutors asked the Seoul District Court for the sentence on Oct. 25, with the sentencing hearing will be held on Dec. 20 according to a report from Yonhap News Agency. It’s alleged that Jung-hoon defrauded $100 billion won or $70 million from Kim Byung Gun, chairman of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group in October 2018 during negotiations for Gun to purchase the …

The court drama behind the acquisition of South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has been going on for several years, but in an unexpected development, a Singapore court has made a ruling against Kim Byung-gun, who has originally accused the owner of Bithumb, Lee Jung-hoon, in defrauding him. According to the South Korean publication Aju Daily, on Aug. 26, after three years of proceedings, a court in Singapore found Kim guilty of selling BXA coins without the permission of his partner Lee and ordered him to return the proceeds gained from the sale of coins to Singapore-based consortium BTHMB. The decision …

Korea’s leading exchanges have agreed to form a new emergency system that will spring into action within 24 hours should another Terra-style collapse threaten to come to pass. Under the new system, exchanges will convene to respond to sudden adverse market effects such as what happened with Terra in May. The agreement came after five of the country’s largest crypto exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax attended a session at the National Assembly, South Korea’s legislature to address market fairness on Monday, according to a report from local news outlet Daily Sports. Exchange leaders, members of National Assembly, and …

Starting on Jan. 27, the South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb will not allow users to withdraw their crypto assets to unverified private wallets. On Jan. 24, the exchange announced that it would be the second of the four major exchanges in the country to ban withdrawals to unverified wallets. Coinone enacted a similar policy late last month and the other major exchanges are Upbit and Korbit. The new policy states that users may only register their own private wallets. In order to perform the registration process, users must undergo an additional battery of know-your-customer identity verifications. Withdrawals to any domestic …

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb is developing an NFT marketplace with “a large company” thought to be LG CNS, a subsidiary of LG Corporation. Bithumb CEO Heo Baek-young confirmed in a Jan. 13 interview that the exchange was currently developing a nonfungible token (NFT) exchange which would help it stay competitive with Korbit and Upbit, two other domestic Korean exchanges. Heo said: “An NFT marketplace will be important in promoting blockchain-based content, which will become a driving force in the future.” There is no confirmation yet on the identity of the content creators or artists that have agreed to issue …

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has reportedly announced a ban on foreigners who have not completed phone-based Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. According to local coverage by Pulse, non-Koreans using the Bithumb crypto exchange will be subject to mandatory mobile verification. While the rule is reportedly set to go into effect this year, the exact date for the new KYC requirement is yet to be announced. Citing Bithumb’s notice, The Korean Herald reported: “Foreigners residing in Korea who cannot process identification with mobile phones cannot use the service.” Bithumb’s move for stricter KYC requirements comes in line with the country’s …

Crypto users between 30 and 39 years old are the demographic with the most deposits on major exchanges in South Korea. According to a Sunday report from the Yonhap News Agency, South Korean residents in their thirties deposited roughly 2.2 trillion Korean won — $1.9 billion at the time of publication — to crypto exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit by the end of the second quarter of 2021. South Korean teenagers have the fewest deposits at $3.4 million, but this was still an increase of more than 400% compared with the $824,000 that they deposited in Q1 2021. “All …

Bithumb’s Hong Kong affiliates are reportedly facing a civil suit for breach of contract. According to a Tuesday report by the Korea Times, the suit is being initiated by a former Bithumb partner in Thailand, which is accusing the South Korean-headquartered exchange of unilaterally halting its business in Thailand and causing major losses. The Thai firm — which remains unnamed — is reportedly preparing to file a lawsuit against Bithumb’s Hong Kong subsidiaries, including Bithumb Global Holdings and GBEX, as well as top company executives in July. According to the plaintiff firm, Bithumb’s Hong Kong-based entities were allegedly involved in …