South Korea: Crypto Exchange Bithumb Establishes Blockchain R&D Center

Leading South Korean cryptocurrency exchange platform Bithumb has set up a research center to boost its blockchain-based offerings and services, the exchange announced in a blog post, January 7, 2020.

Bithumb Looks to Bolster Its Services

Bithumb, one of the largest digital currency exchanges in the world per reported trading volume, has launched a dedicated distributed ledger technology (DLT) research and development (R&D) division to leverage the emerging technology to help it provide better services to customers.

Notably, the development makes Bithumb the first crypto exchange in South Korea with its own research and development center in the country.

Per sources close to the matter, the newly launched R&D center will employ about 30 people and will commence its operations this month. The key focus for the R&D center will be to explore new ways to study system architecture design to bolster public DLT transaction analysis and digital currency private key security.

For the uninitiated, a cryptocurrency private key is a highly secure variable in cryptography typically used in conjunction with an algorithm for encryption and decryption of codes. Bithumb states that it will develop a private key protection layer to aid with securing and safe storage of digital assets in custody.

Further, with regard to public DLT transaction analysis, the Seoul-based exchange will aim to develop a secure system that can process large-volume transactions without technical difficulties. The exchange’s R&D division will also seek to develop a bridge between blockchain and exchange databases to improve the operation speed and maximize the use of confidential client information.

A Bithumb official told The Korea Times:

“Bithumb is the only firm (in Korea) with a research center devoted to blockchain and cryptocurrency studies. The center will help the firm become a blockchain-based comprehensive financial platform whose service will encompass big data, security and online trading systems.”

Learning from the Past?

While Bithumb’s upcoming R&D center is a welcome step for the Korean cryptocurrency ecosystem, it must be highlighted that last year, the exchange fell victim to a massive hack assault which resulted in the theft of cryptocurrencies worth millions of dollars from the exchange’s hot wallet.