Bithumb is planning to keep its CEO, Lee Jae-won, for another term — even as the company faces growing pressure from regulators.
Shareholders are expected to vote on his reappointment on March 31. If approved, Lee will stay on for another two years.
This comes at a tricky time for Bithumb. The exchange is still one of the biggest in South Korea, just behind Upbit, while Korbit remains smaller. But recent issues have put it under the spotlight.
South Korean regulators have already taken action. In March, the Financial Intelligence Unit hit Bithumb with a partial suspension for six months and fined it heavily over alleged failures in anti-money laundering (AML) controls.
Because of this, new users won’t be able to transfer crypto outside the platform from March 27 to September 26.
The company also faced embarrassment earlier this year. During a promotion, it accidentally gave users 2,000 Bitcoin instead of 2,000 won. That mistake ended up distributing around 620,000 coins — far more than the exchange could actually cover.
On top of that, Bithumb is still under investigation for possibly sharing its order book data with a foreign platform. It also needs to renew its crypto license, which adds even more pressure.
Despite all this, the company is pushing to keep Lee in charge as it deals with these challenges.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s crypto market is growing fast. Since Lee Jae-myung took office, the government has shown more support for crypto, including plans around stablecoins.
More people are also getting involved. Over 16 million South Koreans — more than 30% of the population — are now using crypto exchanges. The market is expected to keep growing, with projections suggesting it could generate around $1.3 billion in revenue by 2026.
