South Korea’s Bithumb Planning To Expand To Japan And Thailand

Major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is planning to expand its operations to Japan and Thailand, local media reported.

Bithumb is said to have sought regulatory approval from the Financial Services Agency of Japan and Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A Thai subsidiary, named Bithumb (Thailand) Company Limited, has registered capital of 3 million baht ($90,000), and plans to start service in October.

Bithumb hopes to open a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan in February, if it gets approval. It has already opened an office in London.

With an average 24-hour trading volume of about $358 million, Bithumb is the second largest cryptocurrency exchangein South Korea. Its profit increased 171 times in 2017 than it did in 2016.

Both Thailand and Japan are crypto-friendly countries.

While Thailand finalized a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs), cryptocurrency is a legal means of payment in Japan.

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.

More than 3.5 million people in Japan are trading with cryptocurrencies, the country’s financial watchdog estimates.

Japanese Yen has gained a competitive edge against other national currencies in adopting bitcoin and allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to flourish, the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) had said in a report in April.

Following the hacking of crypto exchange Coincheck, Japan’s financial regulator made a widespread crackdown on the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges to step up consumer protection.

by Joji XavierRTTNews Staff Writer

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