South Korea’s Bithumb exchange eyes Japan and Thailand in its 2018 expansion plan

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, Bithumb is planning to expand its operations to Japan as well as Thailand. The exchange is already on track with this plan and has sent applications for trading licenses to both the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand and the Financial Services Commission of Japan.

Bithumb is also one of the largest exchanges in the world and according to CoinMarketCap; $760 million in trading has gone through the exchange in the last 24 hours. Bithumb recorded 171 times the profit made in 2016 in 2017. The exchange has an expansion plan for 2018, similarly, it opened an office in London earlier in May this year.

The exchange has also had a fair share of challenges in 2018 where it had to delist a digital asset after the asset was found to be owned by Bithumb staff alongside the fact that it was added to the exchange without following the due process. On the other hand, the exchange was a victim of a hack attack in June 2018 where at least $31 million worth of cryptos were stolen.

The company is moving the two countries that have progressive cryptocurrency regulations when compared to others. Japan was one among the first countries to welcome the digital assets and formulated regulations to that effect. Thailand regulations were set in motion in May 2018. While commenting on these two nations, Bithumb said:

“Thailand is active in e-commerce and the fintech industry, and the government is showing great interest in digital currency as it promotes smart city business.” Japan, on the other hand, accounts for 50% of the global financial market and Bithumb considers that Japan plays a central role in the world’s money market.”