South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has recently announced plans to issue its own token, Bithumb Coin, in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
According to local news outlet TokenPost, the Bithumb token sale will be conducted in Singapore since ICOs are banned in South Korea. Bithumb is focusing on large-scale investors rather than individual investors. Bithumb did not confirm when the coin is expected to be launched, or the size of the venture.
Bithumb is not the first crypto exchange which launches its own token. In January, Chinese crypto exchange Huobi announced its plans to issue Huobi Token (HT) that would be capped at 500 mln tokens. Huobi token would not be an ICO, only active users of the trading platform would be able to receive HT.
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced a ban on ICOs in late September 2017, citing increased risks of financial scams as a motivator. But in March the South Korean government revealed plans to local financial authorities to legalize ICOs. While the FSC remains skeptical toward ICOs, local financial authorities try to authorize them by enabling strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) systems.
