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 percent share of the South Korean bitcoin market volume and nearly 50 percent 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 eight 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 the 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.
