A woman using her mobile phone is reflected on an electric board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies at Bithumb cryptocurrencies exchange in Seoul, South Korea, January 11, 2018.
A woman using her mobile phone is reflected on an electric board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies at Bithumb cryptocurrencies exchange in Seoul, South Korea, January 11, 2018. Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji

KEY POINTS

  • Bithumb is planning to go public in the second half of 2025
  • Former chairman Lee Jeong-hoon has reportedly returned as its registered director
  • The crypto exchange aims to ensure its market share will not be dominated by Upbit

Bithumb, the South Korean centralized crypto exchange platform founded in 2014, is planning to make history by being the first crypto platform to go public on the South Korean stock market.

Bithumb, considered one of the largest crypto exchange platforms in South Korea, is preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (Kosdaq) sometime in the second half of 2025, local news outlet eDaily reported.

While Bithumb has not yet confirmed the plan, it has reportedly chosen tech giant Samsung as its underwriter, a business tasked to guarantee the financial security of the firm when it goes public.

The exchange has also made some changes in its leadership structure, which include the return of former chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon as the registered director at Bithumb Holdings, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The ex-chairman, however, was not included in the exchange's board of directors due to an ongoing investigation of bribery.

Meanwhile, the exchange's former CEO, Lee Sang-jun, was removed from the board due to allegations of soliciting coin listings with Jaewon Lee, the current CEO of both Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings.

Bithumb's plan to go public is apparently triggered by its desire to ensure that Upbit, the largest crypto exchange platform in South Korea, will not gobble up its market share.

While the exchange remains a distant second to Upbit in terms of trading volume, in July, it saw a surge in the volume that surpassed that of Binance and Coinbase, two of the world's largest centralized exchange platforms.

In May, Upbit and Bithumb were in the news when South Korean authorities raided offices of crypto businesses in connection with an investigation of fraudulent crypto trading on behalf of a local lawmaker.

The company's semi-annual report revealed that its financial product assets exceeded 400 billion won or around $300 million. Its 24-hour trading volume is around $580 million as of 2:32 a.m. ET on Monday, data from CoinGecko showed.

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