Bithumb, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea by its daily trade volume, has sold more than 38 percent of its ownership to a blockchain consortium in Singapore, Coindesk Korea reported this morning. The stake was sold for 400 billion won, or $350 million USD.

Stake Sold

Bithumb signed the deal on October 11th with BK Global Consortium. BK Global Consortium is a blockchain investment firm that was formed by BK Global, a plastic surgery medical group in Singapore.

BTC Holdings Company currently owns 76 percent of Bithumb’s equity and has agreed to sell BK Global 50 percent +1 shares of that 76 percent ownership.

Coindesk Korea reported that the acquisition deal valued the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange at more than 1 trillion won, or near $880 million USD. Kim Byung Gun, chairman of BK Group, will be the largest shareholder of Bithumb.

Total fees 0.3%. Rebate is for 120% => 0.36%.
To collect the full KRW 1 billion rebate a wash trader must thus trade KRW 278 billion. That is USD 250 million in daily fake volume.
— Alex Krüger 🇦🇷 (@Crypto_Macro) September 2, 2018

4/ First Come First Served, so it ALL trades at 11AM.
Notice how 31K Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) are traded at exactly 11AM. That represents KRW 252 billion. The remainder KRW 26 billion are traded in other coins.https://t.co/EhNHaUihdG
— Alex Krüger 🇦🇷 (@Crypto_Macro) September 2, 2018

5/ In conclusion, some smart trader/s are milking $90K out of Bithumb every day. Corollary: Bithumb massive volume increased should not be considered a bullish signal.
— Alex Krüger 🇦🇷 (@Crypto_Macro) September 2, 2018

6/ FCA definition: Wash trades follow same matching rules as legitimate transactions with special feature of no change in beneficial interest or market risk, or the transfer of beneficial interest or market risk between parties acting in collision. https://t.co/yQejw4V887
— Alex Krüger 🇦🇷 (@Crypto_Macro) September 2, 2018

7/ Had a typo: KRW 1 billion = USD 900,000 (not 90K)
Wash traders don’t “milk” the full amount, need to subtract trading fees. The amount traders collect from Bithumb is USD 150,000 daily. Or USD 4.5 million for the duration of the promotion. Expensive marketing campaign.
— Alex Krüger 🇦🇷 (@Crypto_Macro) September 2, 2018

This Twitter thread is not a good look for the cryptocurrency exchange. Hopefully, things will shift around at the exchange with new faces in the decision making process. Bithumb used to be one of the top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges used around the world last year but has taken a sharp fall since.

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