A South Korean plastic surgeon reportedly purchased a sizable share of the Bithumb cryptocurrency exchange — one of the world’s largest by volume.
Cryptocurrency adoption, as it seems, is continuing to thrive in South Korea despite the current market sentiment and regulations.
What’s Up Doc?
South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange king, Bithumb, got a new majority shareholder today, as reported by Bloomberg. Dr. Kim Byung-Gun and his investment group, BK Global Consortium — who previously owned a smaller stake in Bithumb — are upping their investment to now own 50 percent plus one share of the exchange. The deal was made for 400 billion KRW — equal to about 352 million USD. Dr. Kim explained himself to Korea JoongAng Daily. South Korea has always been a technology-rich country. The nation is also one of the world’s leaders in cryptocurrency adoption and trading, and Dr. Kim has taken advantage of both by investing heavily in medtech and fintech companies. He even founded a company in Singapore that operates an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) crowdfunding platform.
Exchange Augmentation
Bithumb is one of the world’s largest exchanges by volume. According to CoinMarketCap, the South Korean exchange currently ranks second in exchanges by reported trade volume — behind futures trading platform BitMEX.
The South Korean government has really flexed its power in the past few years when dealing with the emergence of the cryptocurrency market. It banned all ICOs last fall as a means to fight back against fraudulent and predatory projects that had begun to run rampant and is quite active to this day in closely observing the exchanges that are allowed to operate.
It has yet to be seen exactly how the governments of the world will formulate regulations and laws in relation to each other. South Korea is taking a cautious and informed approach — and will likely remain a large player in the cryptocurrency market and blockchain development sector for years to come.
What do you think about Kim Byung-Gun’s purchase of the majority of Bithumb’s shares? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Kyle Baird
Kyle migrated from the East Coast USA to South-East Asia after graduating from Pennsylvania's East Stroudsburg University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2010. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Kyle got his start buying stocks and precious metals in his teens. This sparked his interest in learning and writing about cryptocurrencies. He started as a copywriter for Bitcoinist in 2016 before taking on an editor's role at BeInCrypto at the beginning of 2018.
Kyle migrated from the East Coast USA to South-East Asia after graduating from Pennsylvania's East Stroudsburg University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2010. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Kyle got his start buying stocks and precious metals in his teens. This sparked his interest in learning and writing about cryptocurrencies. He started as a copywriter for Bitcoinist in 2016 before taking on an editor's role at BeInCrypto at the beginning of 2018.
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