[Why&Next] Wemade Founder & CEO Faces 2 Trillion Won Loss

Wemix Price and Wemade Stock Plunge Together Amid Delisting Fallout
Last Year's 17th Richest Stockholder Founder Park Kwan-ho Faces Massive Losses
CEO Jang Hyun-guk Also Suffers Large Losses After Buying Wemix with Salary

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] The delisting of the cryptocurrency WEMIX, issued by Wemade, has caused investment losses for key executives to snowball. Park Kwan-ho, the founder and chairman of Wemade's board of directors, who was among the top 20 stock-rich individuals at the end of last year, has suffered losses exceeding 2 trillion won this year due to the simultaneous plunge in WEMIX prices and Wemade's stock price. Jang Hyun-guk, CEO of Wemade, who consistently purchased WEMIX with his salary, also could not avoid substantial losses.

According to industry sources on the 28th, WEMIX is currently trading at the low 600 won range on major virtual asset exchanges. This represents a roughly 70% drop from around 2,200 won on the 23rd, before the delisting decision. During the same period, Wemade's stock price fell 36.8% to trade at 36,000 won.

Wemade Executives Who Went All-In on WEMIX Suffer Hundreds of Millions of Won in Losses

Chairman Park and CEO Jang have incurred losses exceeding 25 billion won solely from their WEMIX investments. Since May, Chairman Park purchased WEMIX worth 30 billion won over six months. He acquired 8,329,181 WEMIX tokens at an average purchase price of 3,593 won each. The WEMIX tokens bought by Chairman Park have been locked up (coin escrow) for one year as of October 26, 2022, and cannot be sold on the market.

However, the day after completing his purchases, on the 27th of last month, WEMIX was designated as a cautionary investment item, immediately recording losses. The price plummeted about 45% compared to Chairman Park's average purchase price, resulting in losses close to half of his investment, approximately 15 billion won. Following the delisting decision, WEMIX prices plunged further, reducing his investment value to the 5 billion won range.

CEO Jang, who steadily purchased WEMIX through Wemade stock dividends and salary, also suffered losses. From April, he bought 212,693 WEMIX tokens over nine transactions. With an average purchase price of 2,371 won, the total investment was about 500 million won, but approximately 400 million won evaporated due to the delisting decision.

Even after the delisting announcement, CEO Jang attempted to calm market anxiety by making additional purchases, but it was insufficient. On the 25th, he bought 90,000 WEMIX tokens with his November salary and stated at an emergency press conference, "I will not sell a single WEMIX token until I resign," and "I will also keep my promise not to sell Wemade shares."

Founder Park Kwan-ho's Wemade Share Value Drops from 2.63 Trillion Won Last Year to 530 Billion Won Currently

The losses from the plunge in Wemade's stock price are even greater. Due to the WEMIX impact, Wemade's stock price hit the lower limit, causing the value of their holdings to shrink sharply.

Chairman Park, the largest shareholder of Wemade, holds 14.83 million shares (45.5%). Before the WEMIX delisting decision, the stock price was 57,000 won but has since dropped over 36%. Accordingly, Chairman Park's share value decreased from 840 billion won before the delisting to 530 billion won after. This is even more painful compared to the end of last year when he ranked 17th among domestic stock-rich individuals. At the end of last year, his share value was 2.63 trillion won, increasing by more than 1.3 trillion won compared to the end of September, propelling him from 28th to 17th place in the stock-rich rankings.

CEO Jang, who holds about 360,000 shares, also faces unavoidable losses. The value of his Wemade shares dropped from 20 billion won before the WEMIX delisting decision to 13 billion won.

Market anxiety is unlikely to subside easily. Since over 90% of WEMIX trading occurs on domestic exchanges and overseas exchange listings remain uncertain, it will be difficult for investors to recover their losses. Although Wemade has indicated legal action against the delisting decision, the stock price continues to fall. An industry insider expressed concern, saying, "With the recent FTX incident and growing market distrust toward virtual asset issuers, the WEMIX situation has compounded the problem. If regulatory authorities intensify their actions, investors will inevitably become more cautious."