[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb on Dec. 27 named Jeon Soo-yong, former vice chairman of NHN Entertainment, one of the nation’s top online game makers, as its new CEO.

Jeon is an industry veteran who worked for diverse fintech firms such as Mobilians and Inicis before joining NHN early this year.

The leadership change comes as questions are being raised about the overall security system of the popular virtual money trading site after several hacking attacks in recent months that slowed down the server and led to a major data breach in April. 

Jeon Soo-yong

On Dec. 13, the company was fined 43.5 million won (US$40,400) for lax management of user information -- the first penalty of its kind imposed on a cryptocurrency exchange here.

“The market for cryptocurrencies and blockchain seems to be overheating even though it is in its nascent stage,” Jeon said in a statement. “I’ll try my best to create a healthy environment in cooperation with regulators.”

Established in 2014, Bithumb is the largest cryptocurrency exchange with monthly transactions of 56 trillion won. Currently, the number of registered users is about 2.5 million.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)