South Korea’s representative body, the National Assembly, has held a crypto regulation debate arranged by major local cryptocurrency exchanges, IT media oulet ZdNet Korea reports Monday, Dec. 10. According to local business outlet Financial Leaders, the topics of the debate were proposed by seven crypto exchanges — Bithumb, CobitCoin, Coinone, Upbit, Gopax, Coinplug and Hanbitco. The debate was attended both by crypto entrepreneurs and politicians, such as Democratic Party member Kim Byung-wook and representatives for the Liberty Korea and Bareunmirae parties, both with a significant number of seats in the National Assembly. The country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Commission …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you to track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Elon Musk Impersonators Flood Twitter With Fake Crypto Giveaways Although impersonators on Twitter pretending to be famous celebrities offering crypto giveaways are many, this week saw an influx of these crypto pretenders posing as Tesla CEO Elon Musk. After compromising verified accounts with the blue check mark, scammers would change the name and …

South Korea's leading virtual currency exchange Bithumb has partnered with Asian e-commerce giant Qoo10 to provide a cryptocurrency payment service, according to an official announcement Nov. 7. Qoo10, the so called “Asian Amazon,” is a leading South Korean e-commerce company in pan-Asian markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Indonesia. The press release notes that the partnership will expand the Bithumb cash payment service as a global payment method. The two companies initially signed a contract in August and proceeded to work with the Qoo10 settlement service and Bithumb Cache system. Introduced by Bithumb this spring, Bithumb Cache is …

Major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has reportedly signed a deal with an American fintech firm in an effort to open a securities token exchange in the U.S., South Korean Yonhap News agency reported Nov. 1. Citing individuals familiar with the matter, Yonhap reports that Bithumb signed an agreement with American crowdfunding platform SeriesOne. A Bithumb official purportedly told the news agency: "SeriesOne actively sought to strike a deal with Bithumb after assessing it as the most suitable partner. Bithumb will ramp up efforts to develop into a global financial firm as the blockchain-based asset tokenization is expected to spread …

Hong Kong-based crypto exchange service Changelly has announced that it helped South Korean exchange platform Bithumb recover 1,063,500 Ripple (XRP) in stolen assets following a massive hack in June, a press-release stated, Oct. 26. In June 2018, hackers attacked South Korea’s leading crypto exchange Bithumb. As soon as security specialists had detected the theft, the exchange temporarily suspended all deposits and withdrawals, and moved its customers’ funds to a cold wallet. Bithumb initially lost over $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies due to the hack. Four months after the incident, Bithumb recovered approximately $14 million in stolen digital assets after it …

A group led by one of South Korea's leading plastic surgeons, Dr. Kim Byung Gun, has made a major investment in crypto exchange Bithumb’s holding company. Bloomberg reported the news Friday, Oct. 12. The surgeon’s BK Global Consortium has closed a deal to acquire “50 percent plus one share” of BTC Holding Co. – the largest investor in Bithumb’s operator – for around 400 billion won ($352 million), Bloomberg reports, citing a Bithumb spokesperson. The report states that BK Global Consortium was already the “fifth-largest” shareholder of BTC Holding. According to Bloomberg’s source, the transaction is to be finalized in …

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, currently the world’s sixth largest by daily traded volume, will open a global decentralized crypto exchange, Business Korea reports Oct. 4. Bithumb has partnered with blockchain firm One Root Network (RNT), which has developed an Ethereum (ETH)-based decentralized token transaction protocol dubbed “R1” and already operates a decentralized exchange (DEX). According to a joint press release, the protocol separates order matching and order execution, which RNT claims improves security and matching efficiency. Decentralized platforms enable users to trade peer-to-peer via an automated system; as they do not store clients’ crypto, they are less vulnerable to …

The crypto market and blockchain sector of South Korea, the third-largest digital asset exchange market in the world behind the United States and Japan, have some of the most robust systems and infrastructure in place to protect investors and facilitate the growing demand for cryptocurrencies. The strong infrastructure of the country’s cryptocurrency market is primarily attributable to the involvement of major multi-billion dollar conglomerates and commercial banks that have assisted the growth of local crypto-related businesses over the past two years. In late 2017, as the valuation of the crypto market achieved an all-time high of nearly $900 billion, interest …

Over the past two days, the valuation of the cryptocurrency market has plunged to $201 billion as Bitcoin lost 13 percent, moving closer to its yearly low at $192 billion. Since Sept. 6 when the price of Bitcoin dropped by more than 10 percent within a one-hour period, the cryptocurrency market has been on a continuous decline. Tokens bled out more intensely than they previously did in April and June, losing out 10 to 30 percent against Bitcoin. Source: coin360.io Cointelegraph interviewed ThinkMarkets chief market analyst and former Bank of America trader Naeem Aslam, eToro senior market analyst Mati Greenspan, …

Bithumb, one of the largest South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, will open up account registrations after a month-long freeze, local media outlet Yonhap News reports Wednesday, August 29. According to a spokesperson from banking partner Nonghyup Bank, Bithumb will meet specific requirements as dictated by South Korean law in return for regaining banking support. Nonghyup had previously suspended its services for Bithumb at the end of July, rumors at the time suggesting the decision had come after the exchange lost $17 million in its most recent hack a month previously. “We decided to keep the investor assets separate, and we will …

South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit — a crypto-only platform run by a subsidiary of Korean tech giant Kakao — has posted a $100 million profit in the third quarter (Q3) of 2018, Yonhap News reported August 23. As Yonhap reports, Kakao’s recent Semiannual Report indicates that the net profit of Upbit operator Dunamoo was 19,330 million won ($17.35 million), with total assets adding up to around 1.25 trillion won (around $1.1 billion). Last year, the company posted a net income of 190.31 billion won ($170 million), while its total assets were at 1.257 trillion won (around $1.1 billion). Dunamoo …

North Korean hackers have infected a cryptocurrency exchange with malware for both Windows and macOS for reportedly the first time, Russian internet security company Kaspersky Lab announced Thursday, August 23. In Kaspersky’s report, the company reveals the malware — dubbed “AppleJeus” — made its way into the systems of an unnamed exchange after an employee downloaded a “tainted” app. Kaspersky now believes the app came from a fake developer with fake security certificates in a major operation by North Korean hacker collective Lazarus Group. The malware aimed to steal cryptocurrency funds, Kaspersky claims, in what marks the latest in a …