Hacked Crypto Exchange Bithumb Made $35 Million Profit in First Half 2018

Published on by Coindesk | Published on

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb made net profits of 39.34 billion won in the first half of this year, despite a rough June for the firm.

Vidente, a video equipment maker that owns 10.55 percent of Bithumb and 10 percent of its holding company, revealed the financial data to a South Korean financial regulator on Thursday, according to local news agency Yonhap.

The filings state, Bithumb collected a total of $270 million in revenue within the first six months of 2018, with $194 million in operating profits.

While the data for the same period last year is not available, Yonhap said Bithumb made $380 million in net profits in 2017 alone, more than 10 times its half-year profits so far.

The platform suffered a major breach in June that saw around $31 million in cryptocurrencies stolen - though it later claimed to have clawed back $14 million.

An investigation into possible tax evasion launched in January also saw the company receive a hefty bill of around $28 million as it concluded, also in June - although no wrongdoing was found.

On Jan. 2, Bithumb was the world's third-largest trading venue with $2.5 billion in 24-hour trading volume.

It has now dropped to the 19th, with around $71.7 million changing hands in the past trading day.

CoinDesk also reported early this month that the 24-hour trading volume on Bithumb dropped by 40 percent from $350 million to $250 million within a week after it suspended the opening of new customer accounts due to a banking restriction - an issue also related to the hack.

According to the report, Upbit netted $97 million in profit during the first half of 2018.

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