Privacy watchdog fines Bithumb 210 million won for transferring user data without consent

Korea's privacy watchdog said on Thursday that it has fined Bithumb, a major crypto exchange in the country, 210 million won ($136,000) for violating rules on the overseas transfer of users' personal information.

The Personal Information Protection Commission decided to levy the penalty and order corrective measures against the company in a plenary session the previous day.

The regulator said that its investigation found that Bithumb transferred the personal information of overseas users while sharing order books with a foreign exchange between September and November 2025.

Although Bithumb notified users that their information would be sent to the Stellar exchange, it was actually transferred to bingx.com, a system operated by a different exchange.

The watchdog also found that Bithumb failed to receive proper consent from users when sending their personal information to 13 foreign exchanges during asset transfers.

Yonhap