A major incident occurred, yet the CEO is still seeking re-election?
In February of this year, Bithumb made a egregious blunder during a promotional event—mistakenly distributing approximately 620,000 bitcoins to users, 15 times the platform's actual holdings. The incident was brought under control within 35 minutes, and 99.7% of the assets were reportedly recovered, but the fact that its internal risk control was practically non-existent was exposed.
Regulators intervened immediately. South Korea's Financial Intelligence Service fined Bithumb: a six-month suspension of some operations, a $24 million anti-money laundering fine, a warning to CEO Lee Jae-won, and a six-month suspension of the whistleblower.
Now, Bithumb's answer is—to let Lee Jae-won serve another two years.
His re-election proposal will be reviewed at the shareholders' meeting on March 31st, citing "maintaining operational continuity and stability" as the reason.
Compare this to its peers: Upbit's CEO, after receiving a warning from the FIU, chose to become an advisor, voluntarily withdrawing from frontline work. Bithumb has taken a completely different path.
Using "stability" to defend a controversial CEO sounds particularly ironic after a crisis stemming from ineffective internal controls.
The shareholders' meeting is nine days away. The market is watching to see the outcome.