South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb, posted net losses of $180 million during 2018, according to a report from CoinDesk Korea. It was mentioned that the main reason for the loss was the decline in the market for 2018, although other factors contributed to losses, like labor costs and infrastructure investments.
The $180 million swing is huge for Bithumb. During 2017, the company reported a profit of $469 million. However, during 2018 the revenues of the operator grew by 17.5%.
Operating profit went down 3.4%, which is not much to worry about, but it is something that dictates the need for action. Operating expenses went up by almost $60 million, with non-operating expenses also going up from $3.6 million to $334.8 million.
Right now, Bithumb is going through really tough times. 2 weeks ago, the cryptocurrency exchange was hacked again, leading to losses of $13 million in EOS cryptocurrency and $6.2 million in XRP cryptocurrency. However, $14 worth of hacked funds were eventually retrieved.
Ever since the theft, we saw the cryptocurrency exchange disclosing the fact that it holds cueromer assets in offline (cold) wallets in order to prevent the losses that would come through such a hack attack.
Bitthumb is faced with serious financial issues. This is pretty much obvious. As a result, it is expected that cost-cutting measures will be implemented. The cryptocurrency local market leader already announced that staffing will be cut. It is expected that around 50% of the staff will be cut, which is quite a big decision.
