Bithumb Can Buy Guam with Its Customers Funds, and Still Have Change Left

The Seoul-based operator of one of the largest Bitcoin ‎exchanges in the world, Bithumb, revealed that it was holding ‎‎$6 billion worth of cryptocurrencies on behalf of its customers as of the end of 2017. ‎

Bithumb is a subsidiary of the publicly traded company BTC Korea.Com, ‎and thus it is obliged to file its audited accounts to the Financial Services ‎Commission (FSC).‎

Following the release of its annual financial statement, which showed ‎that Bithumb’s revenue increased 171-fold compared to 2016, the ‎exchange operator yesterday published a more detailed explanation of ‎the firm’s balance sheet.‎

The report further details that the $6.0 billion figure consists of $1 billion ‎worth of Bitcoin, ‎‎$1.6 billion of Ripple, $700 million worth of QTUM, $650 ‎million worth of ‎EOS, $600 million worth of Ethereum, $500 million worth of ‎Bitcoin Cash, ‎and $300 million of Bitcoin Gold.

With a reported 76% share of the South Korean bitcoin market volume, and nearly 50% of ‎the Ethereum turnover, Bithumb is one of the five largest cryptocurrency exchanges in ‎the world. According to the updated metrics, the venue hosts over $476 million worth of trading volume daily, or roughly 8 percent ‎of the customers’ holdings.

The high percentage reveals how actively are South ‎Korean investors are trading cryptocurrencies.‎ Furthermore, the figures easily outstrip those of the country’s biggest brokerage houses ‎in terms of clients’ deposits or number of ‎accounts. ‎On some days, daily volume at Bithumb has surpassed that of the ‎Kosdaq index, the South Korean exchange’s small-cap benchmark, which has a market value of $250 billion.  ‎

Bithumb makes money from trading volume, when cryptocurrencies ‎change ‎hands between investors. Global trading volumes ‎held steady above ‎‎$40 billion in late 2017 when the virtual asset class has gripped the attention ‎in Korea and worldwide alike.‎