BlockBeats news, on March 22, according to The Korea Times, Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, is persisting in pushing for the re-election of its current CEO, Lee Jae-won, despite a series of controversies and regulatory penalties. Previously, on February 6, 2026, during a promotional campaign, Bithumb committed a severe operational error that resulted in the erroneous distribution of approximately 15 times the platform’s actual Bitcoin holdings—totaling around 620,000 BTC—revealing significant flaws in its internal verification, asset management, and ledger systems. The error was detected and contained within 35 minutes; the exchange froze transactions and withdrawals for 695 affected accounts and claimed to have recovered 99.7% of the misissued assets, though the incident still triggered brief market panic.
South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), under the Financial Services Commission, imposed multiple penalties on Bithumb, including a six-month suspension of certain business operations, a KRW 36.8 billion (approximately $24 million) fine for anti-money laundering violations, a warning to CEO Lee Jae-won, and a six-month suspension of the reporting officer.
The term of Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won will end this month, and the company plans to hold its regular shareholders’ meeting on March 31 to consider a proposal to extend his term by two additional years. Despite significant system outages and regulatory pressure, Bithumb has chosen to proceed with his reappointment to maintain operational continuity and stability rather than undergo a management overhaul. In similar previous cases, such as when Upbit’s CEO transitioned to an advisory role following a warning from the FIU, management has typically faced greater accountability.