South Korea fines Bithumb $24 million and orders a 6-month partial suspension for AML and KYC violations affecting 6.65 million transactions.
Regulation & Gov ·
South Korean police have booked Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won as a bribery suspect over allegations that he hired relatives of National Assembly member Kim Byung-ki, an independent lawmaker who sat on the Political Affairs Committee overseeing financial regulation. According to local reports, Kim allegedly requested the hiring of his second son during a November 2024 restaurant meeting in Seoul; the son joined Bithumb in January 2025 and worked there for approximately six months. Police executed search warrants at Bithumb headquarters on February 24 and June 8 as the investigation intensified, and Kim faces 13 separate suspicions beyond this bribery allegation.
The case centers on whether Kim exploited his legislative position by repeatedly targeting Bithumb competitor Dunamu during committee proceedings in exchange for the employment arrangement. Kim has been summoned by police approximately seven times. The bribery investigation comes amid broader legal pressures on the exchange: South Korean financial regulators issued a $24.5 million fine and six-month partial suspension order in March for anti-money laundering and know-your-customer compliance deficiencies, though a court temporarily blocked the suspension in late April after Bithumb challenged the decision.
Bithumb's accumulated legal troubles underscore mounting regulatory scrutiny across South Korea's crypto sector. The exchange processed $441 million in trading volume over the past day and competes directly with Dunamu-operated Upbit. Whether Kim's legislative targeting of Bithumb's competitor constitutes actionable misconduct, and whether Bithumb itself faces charges beyond the hiring scandal, remain under police investigation.