Bithumb exchange moves $65 million worth of XRP tokens between wallets

The Bitso platform also transferred $39,5 million worth of Ripple coins between its own addresses

27.01.2023 - 13:40

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2 min

What’s new? Analysts at Whale Alert recorded more than 260 million Ripple (XRP) tokens moving between January 26 and 27 in just a few transactions. The largest transfer between their wallets was made by the Bithumb cryptocurrency exchange — 160 million tokens or more than $65,5 million. On January 25, South Korean law enforcement officers issued an arrest warrant for the exchange’s actual owner, Kang Jong-hyeon.

Information on the Whale Alert website

Bithumb was founded in 2013. The platform hosts 191 coins and 291 trading pairs. The daily trading volume is $329,2 million, according to CoinGecko.

What else is known? Initially, Whale Alert marked most of the wallets involved in the transfers as anonymous but later supplemented the information by indicating that Bithumb conducted the largest transfer internally.

In just the last 24 hours, analysts have recorded the movement of 262,5 million XRP worth about $107,7 million. For example, crypto exchange Bitso, which partners with Ripple in Latin America, has transferred 39,5 million XRP (~$16 million) between its addresses.

Bitso’s transaction

Two more transfers of 33 million and 30 million coins ($13,65 million and $12,4 million) were made by unidentified investors from the US exchange Bittrex, the assets were later sent to Bitstamp and Bitso, respectively.

Bitstamp’s transfer

Bitso’s transfer

Bithumb situation. The Seoul Prosecutor’s Office accused Kang Jong-hyeon of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds, as well as fraud under the Capital Markets Act. Specifically, for manipulating the share prices of Bithumb subsidiaries (Inbiogen and Bucket Studio) by issuing convertible bonds.

In October 2022, Bithumb ex-chairman Lee Jung-hoon was accused of $70 million in fraud. He allegedly received these funds fraudulently from BK Group chairman, Kim Byung Gun, in October 2018 during negotiations to buy the exchange.

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