South Korea’s Biggest Cryptocurrency Exchange Pilots An ICO In Switzerland

Bithumb, which is South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is finally conducting its initial coin offering (ICO) to launch later this year – under its own cryptocurrency named Bithumb Coin. The news comes from New1, a mainstream media outlet in South Korea, which interviewed the company on this move.

At this point, some of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms are doing the same. Binance, Kucoin and Huobi are some of the names that already released their native tokens that can be used to trade cryptocurrencies and pay fees.

Binance, for example, lets users benefit from its lower fees in trading by using the Binance Coin. The company will benefit from the funds that it has raised through the ICO which will be used to cover the operational costs.

In the interview (with News1), Bithumb said that the Bithumb Coin will be released in two parts or types. However, the company hasn’t disclosed any details about the structure or purpose of its token. More importantly, the company told News1 that it is not seeking to conduct a public ICO – instead, plans to host a token sale that will be targeted at institutional investors and large-scale investment companies.

In the token sale, only individual investors will be permitted to purchase the Bithumb Coin. After a couple of ICOs that launched in the country, the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) revealed that it may legalize domestic ICOs in the near future.

According to a source linked to Korea Times:

“The financial authorities have been talking to the country’s tax agency, justice ministry and other relevant government offices about a plan to allow ICOs in Korea when certain conditions are met,”

In the end, Bithumb is a public cryptocurrency exchange operated by BTCKorea. As such, it is required to publish all of its earnings, possessions and a balance sheet of both Bithumb and its subsidiaries. Therefore, conducting an ICO can become more complicated for them – which is why the company may have decided to stay private about it until the token sale is completely planned out.