Bithumb, one of South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, will open a new cryptocurrency exchange to target the global market, the company announced on Oct. 3 This is part of its plans to take the lead in the global cryptocurrency market through overseas expansion as there are a lot of difficulties in expanding its domestic business due to unclear regulations.
In particular, the new global exchange will be a “decentralized exchange (DEX).” Unlike existing exchanges that rely on a third party service to trade cryptocurrencies, a decentralized exchange allows users to directly trade cryptocurrencies through an automated process. Based on this, it can reduce security threats, including hacking, and diversify services, according to Bithumb.
Bithumb announced that it would unveil its new cryptocurrency exchange “Bithumb DEX” through its overseas subsidiary by the end of this month. To this end, Bithumb is working with global blockchain firm One Root Network (RNT), which already operates a decentralized exchange. Bithumb is planning to open the new exchange with a technical support from RNT.
An official from Bithumb said, “Bithumb DEX will be operated by its overseas subsidiary. The company is working together with RNT only in the decentralized exchange sector.”
The decentralized Bithumb DEX will not directly keep cryptocurrencies. It will enable individuals to trade cryptocurrencies between their cryptocurrency wallets. A decentralized exchange has a relatively slow speed of trading but has excellent security.
A centralized exchange directly keeps customers’ cryptocurrencies. Therefore, hackers have often attacked the exchanges to steal cryptocurrencies. Bithumb has also been attacked by hackers so it is seeking to operate the new exchange in the safest way possible.
A decentralized exchange is attracting attention especially in other countries. Binance, one of the major global exchanges, also announced its plans to become decentralized. In South Korea, Upbit made an investment in decentralized exchange “Allbit.”
An official from the industry said, “Bithumb is one of the leading global exchanges in terms of transactions but it is true that most of its users are Korean. The latest decision seems to be the company’s strategy to compete with other leading exchanges in the global market by opening a decentralized exchange that receives attention in the global market.”