Will Bithumb Become the FSS Consumer Risk Council's First Agenda Item?

First Risk Response Council Meeting in February
Financial Products and Specific Corporate Operations Also Eligible for Review

The Financial Supervisory Service will hold the first meeting of the “Consumer Risk Response Council (Risk Response Council)” in February to strengthen consumer protection. As the Financial Supervisory Service plans to place not only financial products but also the work structure of specific companies on the agenda, there is speculation that virtual asset exchange Bithumb may be taken up as the first item for discussion.

Lee Chanjin, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, is attending a meeting with bank presidents held at the Bankers' Association building in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 12th, delivering opening remarks. 2026.02.12 Photo by Yoon Dongju

According to relevant ministries on the 13th, the Financial Supervisory Service will hold the first meeting of the Risk Response Council within this month to discuss key agenda items. The council was established to identify risk factors in advance and strengthen inspections before consumer damage materializes. The Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service will personally preside over the meeting, and relevant departments will conduct joint monitoring. If any defects or risks are identified, the council will demand corrective measures.

The Financial Supervisory Service plans to expand the scope of discussion beyond specific financial products to cover the overall operating systems of particular companies. This means that it can put on the review table not only the risk of misselling a single product, but also the corporate work structure itself that could generate risks. Accordingly, there is growing expectation that the work structure of Bithumb, which has recently faced controversy over deficiencies in its internal systems, will become the first agenda item.

The council plans to link follow-up measures such as inspections and examinations step by step according to the risk level of each agenda item. If a matter is deemed serious, it will even consider measures to restrict product sales. An official at the Financial Supervisory Service explained, “Suspending sales would be the strongest possible measure that can be taken when the problem is extremely serious,” adding, “We will consult with the Financial Services Commission and other authorities.”

The Financial Supervisory Service has recently expressed strong concern over Bithumb’s internal systems. On the 9th, Governor Lee Chanjin said to the press at the Financial Supervisory Service headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, “Fundamental problems in the virtual asset system have been exposed, and if we fail to block this, structural risks can arise at any time.” Regarding consumer protection, he added, “This case has provided a significant lesson for a framework that has been heavily focused on ex-post supervision,” and stressed, “We must use it as a cautionary example and make every possible improvement where supplementation is needed.”

In fact, “sloppy ledger management” has been cited as the cause of the Bithumb incident. Virtual asset exchanges generally use a structure in which they first record transaction details in the exchange’s internal ledger instead of transmitting each transaction immediately to the blockchain, and then send them to the blockchain in batches. However, in Bithumb’s case, it is known that verification of transaction records during this process was inadequate, and that the company did not have a verification system to screen, at the time of reflecting transactions in the internal ledger, whether those transactions were actually executable.