Today in crypto, South Korea’s data protection regulator imposed a 210 million won fine on Bithumb for transferring users’ personal information overseas without proper consent.
Elsewhere, Japan’s SBI holdings signed a $289 million deal to acquire cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank and DeFi platform Abracadabra took emergency action after its Magic Internet Money depegged 50%.
Bithumb fined over overseas user data transfers
South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb 210 million won ($136,000) for transferring users’ personal information to overseas exchanges without obtaining separate consent, violating the country’s data protection laws.
The regulator said Bithumb shared personal information with 13 overseas exchanges during virtual asset transfers and order book-sharing activities. The investigation found that the exchange shared Tether’s USDt order book data with BingX between September and November 2025, despite only having user consent to share data with Stellar.
PIPC acknowledged that sharing certain information may be necessary to comply with anti-money-laundering requirements for crypto transfers. However, it said exchanges must still follow legal procedures governing overseas data transfers and obtain the required user consent.
The fine adds to Bithumb’s growing regulatory challenges. The exchange was previously hit with a six-month business suspension by South Korea’s financial watchdog over alleged violations of the Financial Information Act, though a court later overturned the sanction. Police also raided Bithumb’s offices this month as part of an investigation into alleged nepotism involving lawmaker Kim Byung-gi.
English translation of the PIPC’s announcement imposing a fine on Bithumb. Source: PIPC
SBI to acquire Bitbank in $289M deal
SBI Holdings has signed agreements to acquire full control of crypto exchange Bitbank through a 46.7 billion Japanese yen ($289 million) transaction, advancing a deal first disclosed in May that would create the country’s biggest crypto exchange.
On Thursday, SBI said that its wholly owned subsidiary SBICAH will acquire shares from Bitbank CEO Noriyuki Hirosue and other shareholders before subscribing to a third-party share allotment. The exchange will then buy back shares held by MIXI and Ceres, leaving SBI with 100% indirect ownership. SBI expects the transaction to close around October, subject to regulatory clearance.
The acquisition would expand SBI’s regulated crypto exchange footprint and customer base, giving it another potential distribution channel for the stablecoins, tokenized assets and onchain financial products.
Bitbank’s daily trading volume has hovered below $50 million for most of the last four months, CoinGecko data showed. Volume is dominated by the BTC/JPY pair (39.5%), followed by XRP/JPY and ETH/JPY (both at 19.7%).
SBI said combining Bitbank with SBI VC Trade would give the group about 1.1 trillion yen in assets under custody and roughly 2.92 million crypto accounts, based on figures from the end of April. The company said the combined business would rank first among Japanese crypto exchanges by assets under custody and among the largest by account numbers.
Bitbank trading volume has hovered below $50 million for most of the last four months. Source: CoinGecko
Abracadabra takes emergency action as MIM stablecoin depeg worsens
Decentralized finance platform Abracadabra said Wednesday that it launched emergency measures after its crypto-collateralized stablecoin, Magic Internet Money (MIM), fell 50% below its $1 peg.
“We’re acutely aware of the MIM depeg and are taking emergency actions to remedy the situation,” the team said on Wednesday.
It said effective immediately, it will begin gradually “increasing interest rates across all Cauldrons, including deprecated markets, to encourage debt repayment and reduce the outstanding MIM supply.”
The MIM depeg is a stark reminder that even overcollateralized DeFi stablecoins can be fragile in thin-liquidity environments and bear markets, underscoring the persistent risks of crypto-backed money.
MIM depeg exceeds 50%. Source: CoinMarketCap
