Tue, March 19

Seoul Police Seized South Korean’s Crypto Exchange Bithumb for Third Time

Seoul Police Seized South Korean's Crypto Exchange Bithumb for Third Time Exchange News

Bithumb, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, was reportedly raided for the third time, by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Intelligent Crime Investigation Unit.

Police reportedly seized a number of shares in Bithumb Holdings. Despite this, the holdings belongs to Bithumb Korea Director Kim Byung-Geon. In contrast, the seizure action granted by the Seoul Central District Court on September 14.

Hence, the investigation was after it allegedly sold its native BXA tokens for over 30 billion won ($25 million). Although, the sale is based on a former takeover deal with the Bithumb Korea Group. 

As per the Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI) report, Bithumb was ranked fourth in the world. Furthermore, second in Korea based on the daily trade volume. According to Coingecko, the exchange supports 108 cryptocurrencies and 109 trading pairs. Despite, with a 24-hour trading volume of $235 million, at the time of writing.

Exchange Ranking By 24-hours Volume (Source: BTI)
Exchange Ranking By 24-hours Volume (Source: BTI)

At the beginning of September, the trading volume of Bithumb was over 600 million. Currently, the trading volume reduced to 250 million.

Bithumb Trading Volume 14-Days (Source: Coingecko)
Bithumb Trading Volume 14-Days (Source: Coingecko)

The exchange’s initial raid happened on September 2, and the second raid on September 7. Samjong KPMG, beginning of this month completed a letter of intent (LOI). By the way, explaining that it planned to sell its own stake in Bithumb Holdings.

Likewise, last month South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinbit was seized by police. For allegedly making false transactions to obtain 100 billion won ($84m). 

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