Bithumb’s 2028 IPO Plan: How a $43B Bitcoin Mistake Reshaped South Korea’s Top Exchange
Bithumb wants to go public by 2028 after a huge Bitcoin transfer error — here's what the exchange's overhaul means for everyday crypto holders.
Bithumb, one of South Korea’s biggest crypto exchanges, says it’s now aiming to go public in 2028 — and the roadmap it just published tells you a lot about how badly it wants to convince regulators, and everyday users, that it’s cleaned up its act.
In a notice released on August 3, 2026, Bithumb laid out a three-step plan: finish overhauling its risk management systems and switch to internationally aligned accounting standards by the end of this year, apply for a preliminary listing review in 2027, and complete a full public offering in 2028. The exchange hasn’t said where it plans to list. It has previously floated both a Nasdaq listing in the US and a spot on South Korea’s Kosdaq exchange, before settling on the domestic route for now, according to CoinDesk.
Why a crypto exchange even needs an “internal overhaul”
This isn’t a routine business milestone. Bithumb is rebuilding its internal controls after a staggering mistake earlier this year. In February 2026, a glitch during a promotional campaign saw the exchange send an enormous amount of bitcoin — reports put the value at roughly $40 billion to $43 billion — to accounts that were only owed a tiny fraction of that in Korean won, according to CoinGape. The error briefly crashed the local bitcoin price by around 17% and left the platform exposed to potential exploitation before it was resolved.
Bithumb’s CEO, Lee Jae-won, later admitted there had been “a deficiency in internal control,” an unusually blunt acknowledgement from an exchange that South Korean regulators went on to scrutinise closely. That episode is the backdrop for the IPO roadmap: before Bithumb can convince stock market regulators — and investors — that it’s trustworthy enough to list shares, it first has to prove to crypto regulators that a $40-billion-plus blunder won’t happen again.
What this means if you hold crypto on Bithumb — or anywhere
If you’re a Bithumb user, the direction of travel is good news in theory: an exchange preparing for a public listing has to submit to far more scrutiny — audited financials, formal risk controls, accounting standards that match what any other listed company follows. That’s a higher bar than most crypto platforms operate under today, and it’s the kind of transparency crypto holders often say they want from the exchanges they trust with their coins.
But it’s worth staying realistic. Bithumb first said it was targeting an IPO back in 2025, before splitting its core trading business off from other operations to prepare, and that original timeline has already slipped once. The exchange itself says the new 2028 target could still move depending on market conditions and how regulators respond to its filings.
A tighter timeline than it looks
There’s also a regulatory clock ticking in the background. South Korea is set to introduce a 22% tax on crypto gains starting January 1, 2027 — right around the time Bithumb hopes to file for its preliminary listing review, according to CoinGape. That means Bithumb will be trying to prove its governance is rock-solid at the exact moment its home market’s tax and compliance rules get tougher for everyone using the platform, not just the exchange itself.
For now, there’s no confirmed listing venue, no set share price, and no guarantee the 2028 date holds. But the roadmap itself is a signal worth watching: as more big exchanges chase public listings, the exchanges you trust with your coins may increasingly be judged by the same accounting and disclosure standards as any bank or brokerage — which, for holders, is arguably overdue.
