Bithumb is the subject of a special tax inquiry by South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS).

The South Korean tax and legal authorities recently took notice of Bithumb, a cryptocurrency exchange. A “special” investigation into the exchange’s business practices has been launched by the tax authorities. The company’s largest shareholder has also been subpoenaed for further investigation.

South Korean regulators are Investigating Bithumb

According to the most recent local reports, tax authorities paid a visit to Bithumb’s offices in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on January 10. They investigated whether the centralized exchange was in compliance with cryptocurrency tax laws. By examining domestic and foreign transactions, tax authorities are looking into Bithumb Korea, Bithumb Holdings, and its affiliates for possible tax evasion. The 4th Bureau of Inquiry of the Seoul Regional Tax Service, a branch of NTS, is in charge of the investigation.

This is not the first time that Bithumb has been the subject of a tax probe. Following an inquiry by NTS into the company in 2018, a 100 billion won ($70 million) income tax payment was made.

Legal Concerns for Bithumb

The owners of the Bithumb empire are also being investigated by government officials. The ownership of the crypto exchange is thought to be extremely complicated, with a large number of stockholders holding stakes in the company. Several companies have no other affiliations with the blockchain or cryptocurrency industries.

Park Mo, an executive at Bithumb’s largest shareholder, was discovered dead outside his home on December 30. Local authorities were looking into him for embezzlement and stock market manipulation.

The executive’s death was the latest in a string of cryptocurrency billionaires who died within a month of each other. Nikolai Mushegian and Tiantian Kullander, co-founders of MakerDAO and Amber Group, were among them. Some members of the community have pointed out that they occurred around the same time as FTX’s demise.

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