Bithumb transforms its defunct subsidiary Bithumb Meta into investment firm Bithumb Partners in preparation for IPO

Odaily reported that the South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has transformed its defunct subsidiary Bithumb Meta into Bithumb Partners, shifting its main business to investment, similar to the investment firm Bithumb sought to establish when it pursued a spin-off last year. Industry insiders revealed that Bithumb renamed the entity in the fourth quarter of last year and increased its capital to 300 billion won. Previously, Bithumb Meta was established with 290 billion won in capital, with an additional 10 billion won invested this time. Bithumb owns 100% of the shares. LGCNS, CJ Olive Networks, and SK Square, companies affiliated with Bithumb Meta, which had invested about 100 billion won three years ago, liquidated their shares in the latter half of last year. During this period, Bithumb Meta was engaged in Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and metaverse businesses, but failed to generate significant performance, losing most of the investment. Bithumb Partners will primarily be responsible for utilizing Bithumb's own funds to invest in stocks, bonds, and other short-term debt instruments, in contrast to its subsidiary Bithumb Investment, which is mainly responsible for investing in external companies. Industry insiders pointed out that "when Bithumb formally implemented its personnel restructuring, it proposed a system of a surviving legal entity centered on the exchange and a new investment legal entity, so the establishment of this investment subsidiary seems to be somewhat related to this. Given that Bithumb has publicly announced that it will conduct an IPO this year, the market is highly concerned about how its initiatives to establish subsidiaries will progress."