South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb announced Thursday that it would lower discounts on trading fees for institutional investors.
Under its Bithumb Prime program, an institutional investor of which average monthly trading is more than 100 billion won for the past three months, or cumulative trading is more than 150 billion won, will have their trading fees discounted. They will enjoy the quick processing of buying and selling orders under the special accounts.
The decision is to attract big-hand institutional investors and grow the cryptocurrency trading market. A blockchain analyst said, “Individual investors have limits in enlarging the market.” “It is necessary to attract institutional investors for a long-term development of the cryptocurrency market,” he added.
However, few South Korean institutional investors are willing to invest in cryptocurrencies now. The country bans ICOs. The Financial Supervisory Service has been tough against financial companies doing business with cryptocurrency investors and exchanges.
A Bithumb executive expects foreign institutional investors to commit more funds into the domestic cryptocurrency market.
Bithumb has opened subsidiaries in Singapore, the UK, Thailand, and Japan. It sold out to the Singapore-based BK Global Consortium last October.
