$352 Million Bithumb Exchange Share Purchased by Plastic Surgeon

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!