Bithumb on March 31 held its 12th annual general meeting of shareholders at Seonghong Tower in Seoul's Gangnam district and approved the reappointment of CEO Lee Jae-won (이재원) and internal director Hwang Seung-wook (황승욱). Questions at the meeting covered the timetable for an initial public offering, dividends, responses to an erroneous payment incident and sanctions by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

The 12th financial statements approved at the meeting showed Bithumb's total assets in 2025 at 3.32 trillion won and total liabilities at 2.46 trillion won.

Revenue came to 651.3 billion won, operating profit to 163.5 billion won and net profit to 78.0 billion won. Bithumb said its market share exceeded 30 percent after it changed its partner bank to KB Kookmin Bank last year, and that it secured 1.74 million new subscribers.

On the listing timetable, CFO Jeong Sang-gyun (정상균) said the company signed an IPO advisory contract with Samjong KPMG through the end of 2027 late last year and is working to strengthen accounting policies and internal controls.

Bithumb said it plans to focus on upgrading internal controls and boosting corporate value through 2027 before pursuing a listing. Inside and outside the company, the possibility is also being raised that the actual listing may come after 2028. Bithumb said it will also consider the status of the proposed Digital Asset Basic Act and adjust the timing accordingly.

On dividends, Lee said the company has prioritised deploying capital to expand market share and raise corporate value, and will continue board discussions to enhance shareholder value.

The recent erroneous bitcoin payment incident stemmed from human error in entering the bitcoin unit instead of the won unit, the company said. It said it completed corrective steps during a Financial Supervisory Service inspection in February and formed a company-wide internal control task force to prevent a recurrence.

On the FIU's fine of around 36 billion won and a partial business suspension order, Lee Ju-hyeon (이주현), head of the strategy division, said the company is reviewing whether to file an objection and pursue an administrative lawsuit in light of the company's interests and value.

The company said if it accepts the fine it will recognise it as an expense, and will discuss with its auditor whether to record it under non-operating expenses. It also said its short-term borrowings were unrelated to the erroneous payment incident.

On its Vietnam resort business, the company said there was only a misunderstanding over the closure of an existing office and that the project is proceeding at a stage just before construction.

Lee said the company is reviewing business cooperation with various companies and merger and acquisition proposals to change its single revenue structure, in which fee income accounts for 97.69 percent. He said there is no specific plan for a merger.

He added it was difficult to explain a specific response direction because there is no finalised plan yet on an issue related to stakeholding restrictions.

The company also changed its articles of association to increase flexibility in raising external funds. Bithumb passed as proposed an agenda item to raise the total amount of convertible bonds it can issue to 300.0 billion won from 150.0 billion won.