Bithumb, one of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced significant reductions to its crypto lending services following criticism from financial regulators. The platform has lowered its maximum leverage ratio from 4× to 2× and slashed the maximum lending cap by 80%—from 1 billion KRW ($718,298) to 200 million KRW ($143,629).
The lending service, originally launched in July 2025, was temporarily suspended on July 29 due to “insufficient lending volume” and resumed on August 8 with revised terms. Under the new framework, the adjustments also apply to “qualified investors” with cumulative trading volumes exceeding 100 billion KRW over the past three years.
Regulatory Context and Industry Response
The reductions follow a meeting convened by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) among major fiat-trading crypto exchanges in late July. Regulators expressed concerns about excessive leverage in the absence of clear legal guidelines. Bithumb’s review aimed to protect investors and enhance service quality.
Guidelines and Market Impact
Unnamed sources cited by the Kookmin Ilbo newspaper predict that the FSC and FSS will issue comprehensive crypto lending guidelines by the end of August. Rival exchange Upbit has announced its own rollback, excluding USDT from new lending offerings. The tightening of lending terms is expected to influence user engagement and platform competitiveness in South Korea’s crypto market.
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