Bithumb has denied reports that it helped Kim Byung-ki, an under-fire senior South Korean lawmaker, attack the crypto exchange’s closest rival Upbit in parliament last year.
A Bithumb employee provided Kim’s aides with materials unfavourable to Dunamu around the time of a parliamentary audit, reported KBS, South Korea’s biggest broadcast network.
The broadcaster said it had seen chat app messages that confirmed a Bithumb employee met a Kim aide in person to discuss the materials.
The aide previously told police Kim had attacked Upbit in parliament after securing an internship for his son at Bithumb in November 2024. But KBS says its evidence shows a Bithumb employee was complicit in Kim’s attacks.
“All of our hiring has been carried out in a transparent and fair manner,” Bithumb in statements to KBS and South Korean media outlet Joongang Economic News.
The same former aide last month told police he had been told to “go on the offensive against [Upbit’s operator] Dunamu” after his son secured the job.
Kim raised questions about Upbit at a National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee meeting in February 2025, when he chastised the firm’s “monopoly-like status.”
Kim also hit out at Upbit’s response to the Terra ecosystem crash of May 2022, noting that it was the last domestic exchange to suspend trading in Terra coins.
Dunamu meeting alleged
The same aide also told police Kim had told him to help “force the closure of Bithumb’s competitor Dunamu.”
KBS reporters visited the restaurant in question, where staff told them that a reservation had been made under the name of the Bithumb CEO on the day when the aide said the meeting took place.
DL News has reached out to Bithumb with a request for further comment.
Kim’s representatives denied the veracity of the report, calling it “groundless.”
However, Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s leading newspaper, reported that a former Kim aide said Kim reached out to both Bithumb and Dunamu in an effort to find employment for his son prior to his February 2025 comments.
“From September to November 2024, Mr. Kim had multiple meals with Dunamu’s CEO, and even brought his son along,” the aide told Chosun Ilbo.
“Another aide said that Mr. Kim’s son’s resume was also handed over during these meetings.”
Kim stepped down from his position as floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party late last month amid a storm of controversy that has sparked police investigations.
He has also been accused of corruption and other wrongdoings, all of which he denies.
Several lawmakers have called for him to leave the party, ahead of a parliamentary ethics committee probe.
Tim Alper is a news correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email at tdalper@dlnews.com.
