The largest crypto exchange in South Korea, Bithumb now belongs to a Singapore based consortium. The exchange was sold for a deal of approximately 400 billion. BK Consortium is led by a plastic surgeon Kim Byung- Gun. Byung-Gun is estimated to be the largest shareholder of Bithumb.
Bithumb sale is confirmed
A spokesperson confirmed the news that the exchange was sold for about $354 million to a consortium. The spokesperson said :
“Bk Global Consortium, led by Kim Byung-gun, plastic surgeon and blockchain platform investor, signed a deal on Thursday to buy 50 percent plus one share in the exchange’s biggest stakeholder, BTC Holdings, for about 400 billion won ($354.09 million). The deal makes Bk Global Consortium the largest stakeholder of Bithumb”.
The deal is set to be finalized in February. According to Bithumb’s audit report, BTC is the largest shareholder, with a 75.99% stake in the exchange. Vidente Co. Ltd is the second largest stakeholder holding 10.55% of the stake.
BK Consortium was founded 23 years ago by Kim. Byung-gun is also the representative of the BK medical group linking China, Singapore and Korea. Also, the founder launched an ICO platform last August in Singapore.
About Bithumb, the largest exchange in South Korea
Currently, Bithumb is the largest exchange by trading volume in South Korea. The exchange offered the lowest commission rates in the market. Reports suggest that Bithumb accounts for about 10% of the global bitcoin trade.
The exchange saw a huge breach in June 2017. Around 30,000 users watched assets drain from their accounts. The episode affected nearly 3% of the users. The hack was traced back to an instruction on a company employee’s home PC. The customers got immediate compensations of USD 900.
The exchange maintained that the hacker did not gain direct access to Bithumb. Instead, the hacker gained access to the personal information of some users – specifically, their account information and their disposable password used to verify financial transactions. After gaining access to these disposable passwords, the hacker was able to drain the accounts of victims. 11 cryptocurrencies were stolen and the loss was estimated to be about 19 million.
The website is entirely in the Korean language. Translate options are available through Google Translate only.
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Bithumb is Korea’s most trusted exchange. It also accounts for 70-80% of all bitcoin trading in Korea. In addition to bitcoin trading, the Bithumb exchange allows traders to exchange the Korean Won for Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash and other popular currencies. What are your views of the consortium acquiring the controlling stake of Bithumb? Drop a comment and let us know.
