Police reportedly seize South Korea's largest crypto exchange Bithumb

[bitcoinst]

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has reportedly seized South Korea's largest crypto exchange Bithumb for alleged fraud.

South Korea's oldest newspaper, the Seoul Shinmun, reported the news on Wednesday, saying that Bithumb's offices have been raided. The exchange is reportedly accused of pre-selling native BXA tokens worth about 30 billion won (~$25 million) to investors and then not listing the token, which has allegedly led to losses to investors.

Bithumb is said to have issued BXA tokens in 2018 concerning its acquisition by Singapore-based BK Group. But that deal reportedly didn't materialize. Bithumb chairman Lee Jung Hoon is also said to be under investigation by police on charges of escaping property.

The Block has reached out to Bithumb for comments and will update this story should we hear back.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/76692/police-reportedly-seize-bithumb-south-korea-crypto-exchange

[bitsurfer2014]

If this incident was indeed true then I'm afraid, Bithumb will suffer a major blow to its credibility and it would be good that they should settle it at once

because South Korea's law enforcement and justice system could be harsh and the Government take it seriously especially on fraud and corruption

charges, evident of which are those their past Presidents were indicted and sentenced to several years in jail. Imho.

[tomahawk9]

Well, there you have it, the reason why the market went down today:


https://bitcoinity.org/markets/bitstamp/USD

At least this whole thing has nothing to do with major cryptos like BTC or ETH but rather a sketchy token. The drop in the btc price was probably caused by korean panic sellers shitting bricks after reading the headlines    cheap coins before we test 12k again? decent short-term profits =P

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Yeah, but it did affect the price of bitcoin, as we have been trying to get into $12k, but suddenly a major blow as the price goes down to $11,400. The issues steams from 2018, so I don't know why it took them 2 years though. And it looks like South Korea has started to get the ball roll with their investigations, first Coinbit and now Bithumb.

[Darker45]

This is a major blow to cryptocurrency trading in South Korea. Bithumb is the country's largest crypto exchange and even making it to the top ten cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of 24-hour trading volume.

While the case is still under investigation, the initial information available right now seems to suggest that the exchange really has a responsibility over the BXA mess which caused a significant monetary damage to the investors.

For me, this is good news, although it is also sad news at the same time. This is a statement that crypto companies have to shape up.

[minairia3]

South Korea's oldest newspaper, the Seoul Shinmun, reported the news on Wednesday, saying that Bithumb's offices have been raided. The exchange is reportedly accused of pre-selling native BXA tokens worth about 30 billion won (~$25 million) to investors and then not listing the token, which has allegedly led to losses to investors.

These is kind of activity that exchange should avoid. Now Bithumb facing a serious offense against the community. Whether its a korean exchange still its under thr Bithumb company.

Also the Global of bithumb are prone to listing potential scam projects. I dont know but it seems they made it a business affair already to list project without even have any good product at all. As long ad they pay. I'll be avoiding this exchange for now. So dangerous, we dont know that our funds could be cease anytime. I wonder what would be their initial response to this incident.

[Killrbit]

Really sad if true just heard a few people on discord also talking about this, I assumed it was just the standard rumours that come up every few months or so.

And the worst thing is so many innocent users could now have their money stuck for god knows how long, again this just shows why we need some more user friendly dexes. Though recent trends are encouraging, it's still a long way off.

[Lucius]

This crypto exchange has several scandals and I wonder what are the laws in South Korea that allow them to continue doing business despite a very careless and unprofessional attitude towards the security of their company and ultimately their clients. Only two things help here, a complete change in the management structure or the shutdown of the company - this looks like nothing but complete amateurism.

In June 2017 hackers stole user information from a Bithumb employee's personal computer.

In January 2018 Bithumb was raided by the government for alleged tax evasion. They were found not guilty but still had to pay nearly $28 million in back taxes.

In June 2018 about $32 million of cryptocurrency was stolen from Bithumb in a hack.

In January 2019 30 out of 340 total Bithumb employees were laid off in response to declining trading volume and profits in 2018.

On March 29, 2019, Bithumb said that it was hacked. It pointed its fingers at insiders. Nearly $20 million worth of EOS and Ripple tokens were estimated to have been stolen.

On April 11, 2019, Bithumb announced a net loss of KRW205.5 billion (US$180 million) in 2018, a sharp turnaround from the KRW427.2 billion profit in 2017, despite 2018's sales rising 17.5% to KRW391.7 million. The company blamed the loss on the sharp decline in the price of cryptocurrencies and reduced trading volume.

[Nellayar]

This crypto exchange has several scandals and I wonder what are the laws in South Korea that allow them to continue doing business despite a very careless and unprofessional attitude towards the security of their company and ultimately their clients. Only two things help here, a complete change in the management structure or the shutdown of the company - this looks like nothing but complete amateurism.

In June 2017 hackers stole user information from a Bithumb employee's personal computer.

In January 2018 Bithumb was raided by the government for alleged tax evasion. They were found not guilty but still had to pay nearly $28 million in back taxes.

In June 2018 about $32 million of cryptocurrency was stolen from Bithumb in a hack.

In January 2019 30 out of 340 total Bithumb employees were laid off in response to declining trading volume and profits in 2018.

On March 29, 2019, Bithumb said that it was hacked. It pointed its fingers at insiders. Nearly $20 million worth of EOS and Ripple tokens were estimated to have been stolen.

On April 11, 2019, Bithumb announced a net loss of KRW205.5 billion (US$180 million) in 2018, a sharp turnaround from the KRW427.2 billion profit in 2017, despite 2018's sales rising 17.5% to KRW391.7 million. The company blamed the loss on the sharp decline in the price of cryptocurrencies and reduced trading volume.

Now, I wonder why they raided by the police. I thought that bithumb is trusted ande safe haven cryptocurrency exchange but all of my expectation was removed by their performance. It just affect the momentum of every coins in the market. Now, that one of the largest crypto exchange was alleged to be fraud. They might lose some of their traders and I think it will really affect the current condition of market. If bithumb was found guilty, then all of traders in bithumb might hop to other exchange. I don`t know why does a catalyst always exist when the market is having a greenish days.

[hatshepsut93]

Well, there you have it, the reason why the market went down today:
https://bitcoinity.org/markets/bitstamp/USD

At least this whole thing has nothing to do with major cryptos like BTC or ETH but rather a sketchy token. The drop in the btc price was probably caused by korean panic sellers shitting bricks after reading the headlines    cheap coins before we test 12k again? decent short-term profits =P

I though that today's downside movement was pure volatility as usual, but turns out there's a reason for that, huh. Well, that's nice, it means that we'll recover quickly when the panic will subside, and 12k will indeed be retested soon. It's kinda strange that such small and insignificant in the long term news can still shake the market, only shows that the liquidity of Bitcoin market is still pretty low.

[fiulpro]

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has reportedly seized South Korea's largest crypto exchange Bithumb for alleged fraud.

South Korea's oldest newspaper, the Seoul Shinmun, reported the news on Wednesday, saying that Bithumb's offices have been raided. The exchange is reportedly accused of pre-selling native BXA tokens worth about 30 billion won (~$25 million) to investors and then not listing the token, which has allegedly led to losses to investors.

Bithumb is said to have issued BXA tokens in 2018 concerning its acquisition by Singapore-based BK Group. But that deal reportedly didn't materialize. Bithumb chairman Lee Jung Hoon is also said to be under investigation by police on charges of escaping property.

The Block has reached out to Bithumb for comments and will update this story should we hear back.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/76692/police-reportedly-seize-bithumb-south-korea-crypto-exchange

Not really the fault of the police here , since here it was literally the fault of the company and therefore what they did was completely justifiable.

They had to seize it and investigations needed to be done regarding the company . I really don't know what they were thinking, one needs to at least follow the rules when it comes to things like these and the rule was pretty blunt. They cannot sell tokens before the listing , why did even the token company allow this ? Did they really think that the buyers won't complaint ?

The company needs some firm laws , at the same time it does need a professional attitude towards these things, this is why the idea of cryptocurrencies scare some people, this is so close to the scam and the allegations were quite correct.

If you are dealing with cryptocurrencies professionally you are also holding the name of Bitcoins and your actions can really soil it , therefore at least be respectful regarding what you are doing while dealing with these things.

[CryptoPoliticalEnthusiast]

I though that today's downside movement was pure volatility as usual, but turns out there's a reason for that, huh. Well, that's nice, it means that we'll recover quickly when the panic will subside, and 12k will indeed be retested soon. It's kinda strange that such small and insignificant in the long term news can still shake the market, only shows that the liquidity of Bitcoin market is still pretty low.

I doubt this was the only reason, but it probably exasperated the fall. Bitcoin typically falls at US/European night, but not this much. The seizure of the Korean exchange just adds to it.

[stompix]

This is a major blow to cryptocurrency trading in South Korea. Bithumb is the country's largest crypto exchange and even making it to the top ten cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of 24-hour trading volume.

Fake volume, that is.
All of them were pumping up their numbers like there was no tomorrow.

Just look, coinsbit has been raided and accounts frozen, right?
https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbit/
But they still have 300millions in trade, lol!

Bithumb is raided and may be seized?
https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bithumb/
Still 400 million in trade!!!

Who the hell still believes that crap, I remember when that scammy P2PB2B was reporting 4 billion in daily trade..

Anyhow, who's left, upbit? For how long till they either close shop and get in the van?

I though that today's downside movement was pure volatility as usual, but turns out there's a reason for that, huh. Well, that's nice, it means that we'll recover quickly when the panic will subside, and 12k will indeed be retested soon.

I don't know if that is indeed the cause but if so, the market is pretty f!
We got rid of two scammy exchanges that were manipulating volume and trades, what's the bad news in it?

[pawanjain]

I really thought bithumb had nothing to do with it but I guess I was wrong. Bithumb did a bad job preselling the tokens.
The police are just doing their job investigating the case. It is quite expected that if big exchanges like bithumb do such illicit activities then they have to suffer from the consequences. This is why people are losing trust on cryptocurrencies these days.

[noorammak]

Bithumb is not a good trading platform. In August they listed a DEFI token named YBDAO, which is a scam project. As soon as they listed on their exchange there was a price crash and they locked the deposit and deposited on this project. The error is with Bithumb when not examining a project carefully before listing it.
Police false accusations show us that bithumbs are not trustworthy. I think their recent scandal is worse than Bitfinex with a tether scandal.

[TopTort777]

What now? People will withdraw funds from Bithumb, this mass movement of funds will definitely cause little panic and price would go down again. True?

Waiting for Bithumb answer. I expect they will refute the act of police raid. Like Binance did last year, when there were news about police in their office in Shanghai.

[Ayiranorea]

Bithump isn't a universal cryptocurrency exchange. This has been the trusted exchange of South Korea. The native token based investment is termed to be the major reason for the seize of bithump. Once I tried to use the bithump exchange/platform, and found the service at present isn't that perfect and it is being developed dedicatedly for the Korean Market. So, this isn't gonna affect the global crypto market in any means.

[posi]

If this incident was indeed true then I'm afraid, Bithumb will suffer a major blow to its credibility and it would be good that they should settle it at once

because South Korea's law enforcement and justice system could be harsh and the Government take it seriously especially on fraud and corruption

charges, evident of which are those their past Presidents were indicted and sentenced to several years in jail. Imho.

The incident is truth but dont be deceived because this is not the first time of the exchange to escape authority punishment and I dont kbow made their CEO have a good lawyer or a powerful group thats helping.
Speaking of credibility, if the are able to escape the authority penalty they will get their credibility back cause they are not first exchanfe to charges with fraud and I hope you don't forget the Tether accusation either but seriously, when will crypto investors and traders wake up from sleep?

[suzanne5223]

Before now I think any crypto traders/investors that use an exchange which claimed to be hacked simultaneously is really stupid because their story line were whenever build on honesty.
With that been said, something seems not to be right about South Korea constitution concern fraud cause first it was Lee Jae-Yong and Bithimb exchange.

[Twentyonepaylots]

If this incident was indeed true then I'm afraid, Bithumb will suffer a major blow to its credibility and it would be good that they should settle it at once

This will be a huge blow for the Bithumb, even if they prove this allegation false, this will affect their credibility as cryptocurrency exchange. I bet people now on bithumb is moving out, this is what most of people usually do when their platform gets into this kind of situation. Too bad for Bithumb.

because South Korea's law enforcement and justice system could be harsh and the Government take it seriously especially on fraud and corruption

I'm impressed actually, this is not the first time that I've seen South Korea exposing some kind of this 'fraud allegation', their first turned out to be true. I hope this won't.