Police Reportedly Raid Headquarters of Bithumb, South Korea’s Largest Exchange
South Korean authorities have reportedly seized Bithumb, one of the country’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume.
- The Seoul Newspaper reported Wednesday that officers from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Intelligent Crime Investigation Unit had raided Bithumb's headquarters, located in the capital's central Gangnam District.
- The police action was apparently linked to a $25 million token sale hosted on Bithumb and a proposed acquisition by a Singapore platform, BTHMB, that never materialized.
- Per a report from TheNews.Asia, some investors said they lost millions participating in the sale.
- Bithumb's chairman, Lee Jung-hoon, has been accused of fraud and illicitly sending funds overseas.
- CoinDesk has approached Bithumb for confirmation.
- This is the second raid on a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange in a week.
- Last week, police seized Coinbit – the country's third-largest exchange – on allegations it had faked most of its trading volumes.
- Bithumb is one of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchanges – 24-hour trading volume stood at over $365 million, according to CoinGecko.
- The exchange appeared to still be active at press time.
See also: Ferrari, McLaren and $15M in Crypto Seized as Chinese Police Bust Arbitrage Scam
EDIT (Sept, 3: 07:45): A previous version of this article referred to “TheNews.Asia” as “TheNews,” this has since been corrected.