Bithumb will ask shareholders on March 31 to reappoint CEO Lee Jae-won for another two-year term despite a major Bitcoin glitch and mounting regulatory pressure.
The move comes as South Korea’s second-largest crypto exchange deals with a $24 million anti-money laundering fine, a partial business suspension and multiple ongoing investigations.
The controversy centres on a February incident in which an internal error credited users with 620,000 Bitcoin worth up to $44 billion, exposing weaknesses in the platform’s accounting systems.
The glitch, caused by a staff member inputting rewards in Bitcoin instead of Korean won, led to rapid withdrawals and sales of phantom assets, briefly pushing Bithumb’s local Bitcoin price down by 17% before the issue was contained.
Bithumb said it recovered 99.7% of the erroneous funds and compensated affected users, while chief executive Lee Jae-won previously acknowledged gaps in internal reconciliation processes during a parliamentary hearing.
Regulators have since intensified scrutiny, with the Financial Intelligence Unit imposing a record fine tied to millions of compliance breaches and additional probes examining the exchange’s controls and external partnerships.
The upcoming shareholder vote will also consider measures including raising bond issuance limits and strengthening oversight, as Bithumb balances leadership continuity against lingering concerns over operational trust.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $68,435.51.