Bithumb: Korean spot trading, conditional fees and KB Kookmin funding

Bithumb Co., Ltd. operates the Korean exchange covered here. KRW and BTC spot markets sit alongside staking, collateralised coin borrowing and automation services. Its public verification FAQ excludes foreigners, including those resident in Korea. A linked KB Kookmin account is necessary for the ordinary KRW route, so access to the website alone does not establish that a customer can fund and trade.[1][2][5][8]

For a ₩1,000,000 executed KRW trade, 0.04% is ₩400; the stated undiscounted 0.25% is ₩2,500. Two separate same-notional fills would therefore cost ₩800 or ₩5,000 respectively. This arithmetic isolates trading fees: it excludes spread, slippage, price changes, banking and withdrawal charges, and assumes the stated rate actually applies to each execution.[3]

A separate transfer-support incentive illustrates why a reward should not be counted as available cash. Its FAQ places the ₩1 million same-day credit for qualifying outside monthly turnover of ₩100 million–below ₩1 billion under a 90-day hold; failure to trade ₩1 billion within that period leads to expiry on day 91, adjusted for a holiday. At the higher qualification tier, the credit has a 360-day restriction and a turnover test over days 331–360; unmet portions expire on day 361. Annual support and profit-congratulation payments are expressly distinguished from that hold. These are conditional programme rules, not an unrestricted deposit bonus.[28]

Bithumb’s 8 February 2026 notice acknowledges an erroneous Bitcoin event-reward credit on 6 February. It says 99.7% was recovered and that 1,788 BTC already sold was covered with company assets to restore the compared customer-asset position. This is a dated company account of remediation, rather than an independent financial audit or a promise that all future operational losses will receive identical treatment. The notice also announced specific affected-customer compensation and a seven-day fee waiver; that historical waiver is not the current general tariff.[30]

The FSC’s provider list dated 24 June 2026 identifies Bithumb as a notified Korean virtual asset service provider. This evidence concerns the Korean company and does not establish a worldwide licence or an entitlement to offer every product in another country.[31]

FIU’s 17 March 2026 release announced a six-month partial suspension scheduled for 27 March–26 September, targeting new customers’ external crypto transfers following anti-money-laundering findings. It also described a ₩36.8 billion fine decision with further fine-notice and response procedures. The stated transfer measure did not bar all existing users’ trading or ordinary KRW activity.[33]

Yonhap reported that the court granted a stay on 30 April, lasting until 30 days after judgment in the main action. The stay is not a final judgment clearing the underlying findings. A later merits outcome was not established in the inspected material, so the original calendar alone cannot justify either an unchanged current restriction or a claim that the litigation is over.[34]

Bithumb reported more than ten million cumulative registered users in its 28 September 2026 notice. That is a company-reported registration total, not daily active funded traders or independently audited trading volume. It provides scale context for the Korean service profiled here without establishing an international accessibility claim.[18]

Bithumb changed its KRW banking service to KB Kookmin at 11:00 on 24 March 2025. Its notice says customers without the new link lose KRW deposits/withdrawals and KRW trading, with unfilled orders—including API orders—cancelled; some auxiliary services are stopped or cannot be newly requested. The notice provides a refund request for customers who decline the new bank, and assigns transition inquiries and complaints to Bithumb. These consequences explain why a legacy Nonghyup funding instruction should not be reused.[29]

Operator

Bithumb Co., Ltd.

Exchange model

Centralised

Service scope

Korean KRW/BTC spot exchange with staking, conditioned coin borrowing and automation.

Client types

Retail clients; Institutional clients

Pricing publication

Public and quoted pricing

Pricing scope

Public conditional30-day0.04% KRW discount, BTC fee statement and service charges; asset-specific live transfer and borrowing fees apply.

Funding scope

Linked KB Kookmin account and supported crypto counterparties; first/later KRW deposits cause72/24-hour crypto holds.

Custody and asset handling

Custodial exchange subject to Korean user-asset rules; staking and collateralised borrowing alter availability.

Client eligibility

Korean verification and bank requirements apply. The FAQ excludes foreigners including resident foreigners; corporations follow specialist onboarding.

Support

Korean help centre, telephone assistance and investor-protection centre; post-closure statements need support.

Authorisation and registration scope

Listed as a notified provider in the FSC June2026 list. March2026 partial-transfer sanction and April court stay have different procedural significance.

Exchange metadata checked 20 Oct 2026Source 1Source 7Source 5Source 6Source 8Source 31Source 32