Investors’ deposits in South Korea’s largest virtual currency exchange Bithumb have more than tripled over the past year in line with the revived crypto market boom.

According to a disclosure by Bithumb on Monday, the outstanding balance in subscriber deposits reached 631.6 billion won ($560.8 million) as of the end of 2020, up 218.2 percent from 198.5 billion won a year ago.

The increase picked up speed in the latter half of last year as ample liquidity has turned investors’ interest to virtual currencies, a Bithumb official noted.

Bithumb, which is up for grabs, raised 218.5 billion won in sales in full 2020, up 51.1 percent from the previous year. Commission sales surged 50.2 percent from 142.6 billion won to 214.1 billion won over the same period, the disclosure showed.

Its net profit soared 486 percent from 37.3 billion won to 141.1 billion won last year, remaining in the black for two straight years.

Bithumb held 23.1 billion won in virtual assets as of end of last year, including global-wide bitcoin, up 33.5 percent from a year earlier. Subscribers commissioned 3.6 trillion won worth of virtual assets with Bithumb as of end of last year, more than doubling from 1.5 trillion won in the end of 2019.

By Lee Eun-joo

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