Bithumb Cryptocurrency Exchange Review

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In Asia, blockchain technology is used everywhere. There are many cryptocurrency exchanges that were created specifically to work in this region. One such example is the Bithumb project. This Korean platform is very popular in its home country and attracts traders with a good trading volume (it is one of the top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges in the world), development speed and prospects. Today we will look at the pros and cons of this platform.

Bithumb review

The Bithumb exchange was launched in 2015 by the Korean company BTC Korea. Its head office is located in Seoul. The owner of the exchange and his identity are kept secret, despite the seriousness of the project and its fame.

In the summer of 2017, the exchange was attacked by hackers, which ended successfully for the attackers. The losses amounted to billions in South Korean won. The personal data of 30,000 exchange users was stolen. At that time it amounted to 3% of the customer base. Although it should be noted that it was not the stock exchange itself that was hacked, but the personal computer of one of the company’s employees.

The incident did not affect the credibility of the platform and in a couple of weeks Bithumb returned to the leading position in the global ranking of exchanges by daily trading volumes. More than once, there were situations when currencies added to this exchange immediately showed intense growth in value. This happened, for example, with projects that emphasize anonymity. ZCash and Monero were no exception. There were even cases when rumors about adding some coin were spread for its pamping. Similar stories happened with NEO and OmiseGo. False information about them soon to be added to the exchange led to an increase in the value of these currencies.

The company decided to set up a center where customers will be provided with 24-hour off-line support. No other cryptocurrency trading platform provides such services.

Bithumb has been mentioned in the media more than once and has been noted by publications such as Bloomberg and Fortune.

The site’s interface, in addition to Korean, also has translations into some of the world’s major languages. These include English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and even Hindi. For webmasters there is an API, which has functions both for public information (Bitcoin and its exchange rate) and for trading.

The developers offer traders apps for smartphones. They make it easy to deposit funds into an account and trade.

How to register on Bithumb

Signing up for this exchange is not easy. This process requires filling in a lot of fields and phone number verification. The minimum set of data that must be specified includes email, desired password, full name and mobile number.

All this data must be valid. Otherwise, you may encounter difficulties with further attempts to withdraw funds from the exchange. It is recommended to fill everything exactly as it is written in your bank account.

Here you also need to set up a pin code. It is used to confirm the sending of all transactions and is necessary to withdraw funds. The phone number will need to be confirmed with a code, which will come in an SMS message. It must be entered in a special field on the website.

Bithumb also supports the possibility of registering corporate accounts. To create them, it is necessary to provide information about the company. The basic data will be enough – the name, address and information about the manager.

Verification

For trading on the exchange, verification is mandatory. It may be considered the next stage of the registration process. First, you need to make a scan or photo of your passport and send it by e-mail. This will not remove the deposit and withdrawal limits, but it will open the access to all the basic functionality of the exchange. To increase the limits you will need to provide scans or photos of documents, which can confirm the address of residence. You can use, for example, utility checks or invoices.

Supported currencies

Bithumb is most focused on South Korea and of the fiat currencies only the Won is available. This makes inter-exchange arbitrage impossible, as this currency is almost nowhere else represented. As for cryptocurrencies, the most basic projects are just over a dozen:

• Bitcoin
• Ripple
• EOS
• Ethereum
• Bitcoin Cash
• Ethereum Classic
• QTUM
• Bitcoin Gold
• Lightcoin
• Monero
• DASH
• ZCash

Funds depositing and withdrawal

The user can deposit funds in the section called “Money Transfers”. If the withdrawal occurs for the first time, the service delays it for three days. This is done to prevent money laundering and to increase the safety of the customers. At the exchange, it is possible to withdraw money for free, as well as to deposit it. No deposit or withdrawal fees are stipulated.

Trade and exchange

Cryptocurrencies available on the exchange are paired only with South Korean won. The developers have provided several modes of creating orders. Among them, there are the usual (General) and light (Easy), which is well suited to beginners in trading. For Bitcoin, the Reserved Trade mode is also available.

Information about all trading pairs can be found directly on the Home page of the website. It shows the current price, its changes and the orders that were closed. The betting chart is displayed in intervals, which can be set up independently.

Trading volume

Bithumb can boast of good trading volumes. On average, they exceed $300 million per day. The largest turnovers come from currency pairs with Bitcoin, Ripple and EOS.

Bithumb commissions

Users are charged a fee of 0.15% of the total transaction amount when buying and selling. The exchange also offers discounts on special coupons. You can use them to reduce commissions to 0.075% or even 0%.

Security and Support

Despite all the attempts and leaks of user data, the exchange has never been hacked. All these incidents forced the developers to focus on providing secure services. During sign-up, each account is assigned a special password and uses two-factor authentication. On the profile page you can track all the history of activity and actions related to the account, IP addresses and browsers that were used when interacting with the trading account.

Most users outside of Korea encounter a problem when they do not receive an SMS to confirm two-factor authentication. Thus, these traders are unable to continue working with the exchange. This is the reason for most of the negative feedback about the service. And even if you manage to create an account, there are often difficulties with its verification, which is necessary for full-fledged work with the platform.

Support for users, as noted above, is carried out not only online, but also offline in a specialized center. And all the news can be found out from accounts on social networks, such as Twitter.