Korean Court Orders Crypto Exchange to Pay Customers Suffering From Service Outage

January 16, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Executive Linked to Crypto Exchange Bithumb Found Dead Outside His Home: Report

January 4, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Bithumb former chair Lee Jung-Hoon acquitted in the first instance

January 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bithumb

The former chair was under allegations of $70 million in fraud charges which were said to have occurred during the acquisition of Bithumb.

Lee Jung-hoon, the former chair of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, was found not guilty on Jan. 3 by the 34th Division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Central District Court.

Jung-Hoon was on trial under accusations of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Of Specific Economic Crimes due to fraud.

The case has been ongoing since October 2018, when the former chairman allegedly defrauded 100 billion won ($70 million) during negotiations for the acquisition of Bithumb from Kim Byung-gun, chairman of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group.

Jung-hoon could’ve faced an 8-year sentence had he been found guilty. According to the local press, in its official response to the ruling, Bithumb said it respects the court’s decision.

The exchange also clarified that it is under “professional managers” and the former chairman is not involved in current operations.

Almost a week prior to the ruling, on Dec. 30 Bithumb’s largest shareholder executive Park Mo was found dead after he received allegations of embezzlement and manipulation of stock prices.

These developments followed a decision by Singaporean courts back in Aug. 2022, which found Byung-gun guilty of selling BXA tokens without the consent of Jung-hoon.

The ruling ordered him to return all proceeds from the sale of BXA back to the Singapore-based group BTHMB.

Later in October 2022, Jung-hoon failed to attend a parliamentary hearing during the Terra ecosystem turmoil, citing a mental health disorder.

Bithumb was one of the companies raided by South Korean authorities in the aftermath of the Terra Luna collapse.

After the collapse, exchanges in South Korea created an emergency system as a preventative measure in case of a feature Terra-style incident. To ensure compliance with local regulations, all local exchanges must now list tokens based on the same guidelines.

South Korean Crypto Exchanges Delist WEMIX — Token Price Plunges by Nearly 70%

November 25, 2022 Bitcoin.com

WEMIX token plunges 70% after it’s delisted by Korean exchanges

November 25, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bithumb

DAXA claimed that the circulating number of WEMIX exceeds what has been disclosed by Wemix, much to the chagrin of the issuers.

South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges have announced they will delist WEMIX (WEMIX) — the native token of gaming company Wemade’s blockchain platform Wemix — alleging the firm provided “false information” in response to an investment warning it was issued.

Bithumb, Upbeat, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax — which are part of a collective called the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA) — announced on Nov. 24 that they would terminate contract support for WEMIX, with trading set to end on Dec. 8.

In the investment warning issued Oct. 27, DAXA alleged that there was considerably more WEMIX in circulation than Wemix had disclosed, and Wemix had pledged to work with DAXA to alleviate these concerns.

After news of the decision to delist broke, WEMIX Communication released a statement claiming it had sincerely responded to requests and concerns raised by DAXA and corrected a number of issues where they believe the circulating supply had been overstated the group, adding:

“The WEMIX team does not acknowledge or agree with the unreasonable decision made by the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA)... It is crucial to note that the Foundation has not circulated a single WEMIX more than what we have officially disclosed thus far.”

The price of WEMIX plummeted following the news, and at the time of writing is down 70.8% with a current price of $0.476.

The CEO of Wemade Henry Chang has reportedly invested his monthly salary into the WEMIX token eight times, including purchasing 18,928 WEMIX Classic with October salary this year.

Wemade is best known for its hit franchise The Legend of Mir which peaked at over 200 million sign ups and includes one of the world’s most popular blockchain games, Mir 4. It announced on Nov. 2 that it had raised $46 million from Microsoft, and asset management firms Kiwoom Securities and Shinhan Asset Management. Chang said at the time:

“Wemade and Wemix will continue to exert efforts to attract more capital and actively invest to build the global digital economy platform.”

Wemade also announced a plan to release a new economy platform which combines non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

While South Korea is one of the biggest gaming markets and blockchain adopters in the world, the country has banned play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain games.

Since being elected on Mar. 10 in a tight race, crypto-friendly President Yoon Suk-yeol has hinted that the ban could be lifted and is looking to grow the virtual asset market by overhauling “regulations that are far from reality and unreasonable.”

Bithumb ex-chairman could face 8 years prison over alleged $70M fraud

October 26, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bithumb

The sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 20 and could see the former chairman of South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb behind bars for a maximum of eight years if found guilty.

The former chairman of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, Lee Jung-hoon, could face a possible maximum sentence of eight years in prison if found guilty on charges related to an alleged fraud worth $70 million.

Local prosecutors asked the Seoul District Court for the sentence on Oct. 25, with the sentencing hearing will be held on Dec. 20 according to a report from Yonhap News Agency.

It’s alleged that Jung-hoon defrauded $100 billion won or $70 million from Kim Byung Gun, chairman of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group in October 2018 during negotiations for Gun to purchase the Bithumb exchange.

Gun alleges he paid $70 million to Jung-hoon as a “down payment” towards buying the exchange on the condition that it lists a token called BXA created by the Blockchain Exchange Allicance which Gun helped to form.

The proceeds from the token listing would’ve allegedly gone towards helping pay for the acquisition, but Bithumb never listed it and the deal fell apart.

"The structure of this case is a typical stock sale contract," Jung-hoon’s lawyer reportedly said as a defense, adding that it was carried out faithfully according to typical procedures for such a contract.

Jung-hoon said in his final statement to the court that he was “very sorry for making it difficult for employees and causing social pressure."

Earlier this month Jung-hoon failed to attend a parliamentary hearing on Oct. 6 regarding the $40 billion wipeout of the Terra ecosystem citing a panic disorder as the reason for his absence.

Singapore court rules in favor of Bithumb founder in acquisition case

August 31, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bithumb

The decision on the civil lawsuit might affect a trial court in South Korea.

The court drama behind the acquisition of South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has been going on for several years, but in an unexpected development, a Singapore court has made a ruling against Kim Byung-gun, who has originally accused the owner of Bithumb, Lee Jung-hoon, in defrauding him.

According to the South Korean publication Aju Daily, on Aug. 26, after three years of proceedings, a court in Singapore found Kim guilty of selling BXA coins without the permission of his partner Lee and ordered him to return the proceeds gained from the sale of coins to Singapore-based consortium BTHMB.

The decision of this civil case might affect the trial court, that has been held in South Korea. In that case, Kim accused Lee of defrauding him in the process of a jointly planned acquisition of Bithumb.

As his narrative goes, in October 2018, Lee Jung-hoon discussed the purchase and joint management of the Korean exchange with the chairman of BK Group and the founder of a line of cosmetic surgery clinics, Kim Byung-gun. Partners registered the BTHMB consortium to buy out a 50% stake in Bithumb Holdings — Lee reportedly received $100 million upfront as a “contract fee” from Kim, another part of the funds, demanded to close the acquisition, should have come from the sale of BXA coins issued by BTHMB.

Yet the token was never listed and the consortium didn’t take over Bithumb as it failed to pay the balance. Kim filed a complaint against Lee in a Korean court in 2020. But even beforehand, in 2019, Lee accused his ex-partner of selling BXA tokens on his behalf in Singaporean court.

Meanwhile, Bithumb casually continues its operation — in January 2022, it confirmed the development of a nonfungible token exchange that would help it stay competitive with Korbit and Upbit, two other domestic Korean exchanges. In July, the current owner of Bithumb, Koren company Vidente, revealed that it has contacted FTX on the subject of a possible sale of its stake.

Bithumb