The Korea Fair Trade Commission has launched an on-site investigation into Bithumb on suspicion of violating the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising over its promotion claiming that Bithumb has the No. 1 liquidity among domestic virtual asset exchanges.
According to the industry on February 4, the Fair Trade Commission sent investigators to Bithumb's headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the same day to secure Bithumb's advertisements, promotional materials, and other related documents.
The Fair Trade Commission is said to be examining whether the phrase "No. 1 in liquidity among domestic virtual asset exchanges," which Bithumb promoted through press releases and other channels last year, is objectively supported.
Given that its competitor Upbit holds the No. 1 market share, the authority sees a possibility that the advertisement may have misled consumers or exaggerated the facts.
It is also reported that the authority is considering whether to launch an investigation into Bithumb's act of changing the conditions for payment of subsidies during an event held late last year for new customers connecting via its application programming interface (API), on suspicion of "unfair customer inducement."
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