Bithumb has become the top cryptocurrency exchange in the world based on volume after it sold its shares to BK Consortium.
It has seen level of expectations towards its new businesses grow and it has resolved security concerns and it has created transparent governing structure. By doing so, it has created opportunities for large investors to approach Bithumb once again.
According to industries, Bithumb surpassed Binance and Huobi and has become the top cryptocurrency exchange based on daily volume after its biggest shareholder has been changed to BK Consortium.
According to Coinhills, WorldCoinIndex, and CoinMarketCap which are global exchange evaluation sites, Bithumb surpassed Chinese and foreign exchanges by wide margin and has become the top cryptocurrency exchange. Not only did it record volume that dominated volume of Binance, which is the biggest exchange in China, but it was also ranked as South Korea’s first Unicorn exchange.
Bithumb’s daily volume was calculated to be $1.22 billion (1.3873 trillion KRW), $954 million (1.081 trillion KRW), and $1.10 billion (1.2419 trillion KRW) according to CoinMarketCap, WorldCoinIndex, and Coinhills respectively.
Although uncertainty to its management was expected to due to a change in its biggest shareholder, expectations towards synergy from foreign businesses actually provided credibility to investors and have led to an increase in volume. Especially, influential foreign investors gave positive evaluations towards sales of Bithumb’s shares.
This is the first time when a South Korean exchange becomes an Unicorn company (more than $883 million (1 trillion KRW)) within a short period of time.
BK Consortium signed a contract to purchase shares of BTC Korea Holdings, which is Bithumb’s biggest shareholder, for $353 million (400 billion KRW). BTC Korea Holdings has 76% of Bithumb’s shares. It is heard that BK Consortium is planning on various businesses such as blockchain-based payment service with drastically lower fee than other payment systems through Bithumb.
BK Consortium appraised Bithumb’s value including management premium to be between $1.32 billion and $1.77 billion (1.5 trillion KRW and 2 trillion KRW) during this acquisition process. It appraised 38% of Bithumb’s shares to be $353 million (400 billion KRW) and gave more than $883 million (1 trillion KRW) in valuation.
“BK Consortium’s strategic investments and continuous improvement in our process centered on our customers are getting positive feedbacks from domestic and foreign investors.” said a representative for Bithumb. “By utilizing BK Consortium’s global network, we are going to attempt to emerge as a global blockchain business.” This representative also added that Bithumb is going to resolve its internal incompleteness early on through its partnership with BK Consortium and enhance communication system between South Korean government and private companies so that it can leap as a global blockchain Unicorn business.
Staff Reporter Gil, Jaeshik | osolgil@etnews.com