BTC Korea rakes in profit thanks to bitcoin mania

BTC Korea, which operates Bithumb, a major cryptocurrency exchange in Korea, raked in 534 billion won ($496.3 million) in net profit last year, over 200 times more than in 2016, thanks to bitcoin mania.

Data by the Financial Supervisory Service, the country’s financial watchdog, showed that the company had 333.4 billion won in sales and 265.1 billion won in operating profit. Additionally, BTC Korea made 309.3 billion won in non-operating profit, which included cryptocurrency it owned whose value skyrocketed to more than 290 billion won. About 40 billion was cited as a “non-operating expense.”

BTC Korea’s net profit from 2017 even surpassed those of major securities firms in Korea.

Only two brokerage firms last year earned over 500 billion won in net profit - Korea Investment & Securities with 524.4 billion won and Mirae Asset Daewoo with 504.9 billion won.

By Choi Hyung-jo