South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb has announced a total loss of 205.5 billion won (equivalence of $108 million) for the year, 2018.
According to report seen on Thursday, the losses are due to infrastructural investments, labour costs and a sharp decline in last year’s cryptocurrency market.
Furthermore, a number of successful cyber attacks impacted on performance. These factors put together swung the crypto exchange to deficit compared to 2017.
Two weeks earlier, Bithumb reported a hack which resulted in the loss of $13 million worth of eos and $6.2 million worth of XRP. A similar attack reported previously had seen the company lose $30 million worth of crypto assets although it later claimed $14 million was recovered.
Other losses, as announced by the exchange were from a 3.4% decrease in operating profit as well as an overwhelming 9,300% increase in non-operating expenses.
In an announcement following the latest hack, Bithumb said it has moved all customers’ assets to cold wallets for safe keeping. This may be a safeguard amidst its financial crisis realizing it cannot afford to make any more mistakes. The exchange also reveals plans to reduce its staff strength by up to 50%.
