PANews reported on March 19 that according to Cryptonews, South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has overcome a key legal obstacle in its efforts to become the country's first platform to launch an IPO. The Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution lost the case in a long-standing fraud case involving Lee Jung-hoon, former CEO of Bithumb Holdings and CEO of Bithumb Korea. Bithumb is now "expected to speed up the initial public offering (IPO)" process because the "legal risks" surrounding Lee Jung-hoon have been eliminated. Lee Jung-hoon is also a major shareholder of Bithumb. According to reports, Bithumb hopes to follow the example of Coinbase in the United States and Coincheck in Japan and be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
There are at least two key obstacles that remain as Bithumb moves forward with its IPO plans. The first is the uncertainty surrounding an ongoing investigation by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The FIU launched an onsite inspection of Bithumb on March 17, which is set to end on March 28. The regulator wants to investigate Bithumb’s compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) obligations, among other things. In a previous investigation into Upbit, the FIU found numerous KYC violations. The second obstacle involves Bithumb’s complex ownership structure, and ongoing questions about who owns the platform. While the legal case has resolved some issues, questions remain about the relationship between mysterious businessman Kang Jong-hyun and the exchange. “Clarifying its governance structure will be an urgent task for Lee Jung-hoon and Bithumb,” the outlet wrote.
