Bithumb published a formal notice on August 3 setting out a three-stage path to going public. It will complete advanced internal controls during 2026, file for a preliminary listing review in 2027, and complete a full public offering in 2028. The exchange did not name a proposed listing venue.
The plan reads as a governance document more than a fundraising one, and that is deliberate. Alongside the timeline, Bithumb committed to spinning off its Bithumb Asset arm to remove conflicts of interest, diversifying revenue streams, improving public disclosure of its financials and virtual asset holdings, and working with top securities firms, law firms and auditors. It is also shifting its accounting to K-IFRS, South Korea’s international financial reporting standard.
The reason for that emphasis sits six months in the past.
The 620,000 Bitcoin Error
In February 2026, a staff error during a promotional campaign produced one of the strangest incidents in exchange history.
The promotion was meant to distribute 620,000 Korean won worth of bitcoin, roughly $430, to 249 users. Instead the system credited them with 620,000 bitcoin, worth approximately $43 billion at the time. The unit had been swapped: won for BTC.
Recipients who understood what had happened moved fast, and the local bitcoin price crashed roughly 17% as phantom coins hit the order book. Bithumb recovered 99.7% of the erroneous balances, but that remaining fraction represented a real 1,788 BTC shortfall, which the company covered from corporate reserves. It subsequently established a 100 billion won customer protection fund, about $68 million, for affected traders.
The financial damage was survivable. The reputational damage was more pointed, because the incident exposed exactly the kind of gap that public market investors scrutinise: a single input error that no verification layer caught before it reached production and moved a national market.
It was not an isolated compliance episode either. Bithumb had already absorbed a 36 billion won fine from South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit, and the combination of penalties and the February mistake prompted shareholders to shelve listing plans that had once targeted a Nasdaq debut in the first half of 2026.
A Timeline That Has Moved Repeatedly
The 2028 target is the latest in a sequence of revisions, and that history is worth noting when assessing how firm this date is.
Bithumb originally aimed for a US listing in early 2026. At its annual general meeting on March 31, chief financial officer Jung Sang-kyun told shareholders the listing would now likely take place after the start of 2028, citing work to strengthen accounting policies and internal controls. In April, reports indicated the timeline had been pushed beyond 2028 entirely, with officials citing regulatory uncertainty.
The August 3 notice therefore represents a firmer commitment than the company has offered in months, with specific milestones attached rather than a vague post-2028 horizon. Whether it holds depends largely on factors outside Bithumb’s control.
The underlying business is not the problem. Bithumb posted 651.3 billion won in sales and 78 billion won in net profit for the 2025 fiscal year. Its switch to Kookmin Bank for real-name accounts drove domestic market share past 30% and attracted 1.74 million new subscribers during the year. This is a profitable, growing exchange whose obstacle is governance credibility rather than commercial performance.
The Tax Deadline Changes the Calculation
The timing of the announcement is not coincidental, and one date explains much of the urgency.
On July 29, South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yun-cheol confirmed that a 22% crypto gains tax will take effect on 1 January 2027, with no further delays. Investors earning more than 2.5 million won annually, roughly $1,740, from crypto will fall under the levy. The tax has been postponed repeatedly since 2021, and this confirmation appears to close that pattern.
For exchanges the implications run in two directions. Compliance burdens increase substantially, requiring transaction-level reporting infrastructure that domestic platforms must build within months. And trading volumes could contract as retail investors adjust to a tax regime that did not previously exist, which would compress the revenue base ahead of any listing.
That makes IPO preparation a dual exercise. Bithumb must demonstrate governance strength to public markets while simultaneously proving its business can withstand a tax change that may reduce the domestic activity underpinning it. Building internal controls in 2026 and filing for review in 2027 places the process either side of that transition.
The Rival Complication
Bithumb is not preparing in isolation. Its larger competitor Upbit, operated by Dunamu, has its own listing ambitions following a proposed combination with domestic tech giant Naver, a deal currently under Fair Trade Commission review.
Dunamu has also been building an extensive alliance with Hana Financial Group, which took a 6.55% stake for roughly $668 million, spanning won-denominated stablecoins, blockchain remittances and tokenised securities. If Upbit reaches public markets first, or with a stronger institutional story attached, Bithumb’s positioning as the domestic industry’s first listing loses some of its value.
There is a broader context too. The crypto IPO class of 2025 has performed poorly, with several listings trading well below debut prices, and firms including Kraken, Grayscale and Ledger have delayed their own plans. A 2028 target gives Bithumb time for that market to recover, which may be as much a feature of the timeline as the internal work.
What It Means
For the South Korean market, a Bithumb listing would be a first: no domestic crypto exchange has completed a public offering. It would subject one of the country’s largest trading venues to continuous disclosure obligations, audited financials and shareholder scrutiny, which is a meaningful step for a sector that has operated with limited transparency.
For Bithumb specifically, the roadmap is a bet that governance reform is achievable within two years and that the February error can be framed as a fixed problem rather than a structural one. The commitments are substantial, spinning off a subsidiary to remove conflicts, adopting international accounting standards, expanding disclosure of virtual asset holdings, and each is verifiable by 2027.
The honest caveat is that this timeline has moved before, no listing venue has been named, and the incoming tax creates genuine uncertainty about the revenue picture regulators and investors will assess. What has changed is specificity. Bithumb is now publishing dates and deliverables rather than intentions, which is either a signal of confidence or a commitment it will be measured against. The next verifiable milestone is whether those internal controls are genuinely complete by year-end.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making any investment decisions.
