Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, is now eyeing a public listing after 2028, with a preliminary review process set to begin in 2027. The exchange originally targeted a listing as early as 2025 or 2026.

The long road to going public

Bithumb’s CFO Jeong Sang-gyun laid out the revised plan at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, stating that the firm will prioritize preparations for the listing through 2027. The exchange has signed an IPO advisory agreement with Samjong KPMG that runs through the end of that year.

CEO Lee Jae-won was reconfirmed for a two-year term at the April 2026 annual meeting, aligning his leadership tenure with the critical pre-IPO period.

The original plan had Bithumb targeting a Nasdaq listing. Instead, the exchange has been forced into repeated delays driven by a need to strengthen its accounting protocols and internal controls.

Why the delays keep piling up

In February 2026, a major system error resulted in erroneous transfers exceeding $40 billion. The incident prompted intensified regulatory scrutiny and forced the company into a serious review of its control systems.

Bithumb is currently under investigation for anti-money laundering violations. South Korea’s regulatory environment for crypto has tightened considerably since Bithumb’s founding in 2014.

Traditional finance comes knocking anyway

Kiwoom Securities, a major South Korean brokerage, has been exploring the acquisition of a stake in the exchange through a private placement of new shares. Kiwoom extended its review period for the potential partnership until October 2026.

Upbit, South Korea’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has been making significant strides toward its own IPO aspirations.

What this means for investors

Bithumb has no active native token publicly acknowledged in recent updates. The action here, when it eventually comes, will be in equity markets. The key variables to watch between now and 2028 are whether Bithumb can close out the AML investigation, prove its systems can handle transactions without multi-billion-dollar glitches, and convince Kiwoom Securities or another institutional partner to commit capital before the IPO window opens.

The Samjong KPMG advisory agreement running through 2027 gives a concrete marker for measuring compliance progress ahead of the 2028 target.