Bithumb Denies Leak as Telegram Users Correctly Predict New Listings

Internet users have suggested that an employee at Bithumb, the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform in South Korea, may have leaked information about new currency listings to internet communities.

Per news wire service Yonhap, members on a major cryptocurrency-themed Telegram channel with just short of 10,000 subscribers said they had seen “confidential information” regarding Bithumb’s impending listing of the Mithril and Elf tokens.

The first post of this nature was made at 2pm on April 12, but the news quickly spread to a number of other online cryptocurrency communities and forums, with some users claiming that Bithumb staff may have been the source of the “leak.” The rumors sparked a huge spike in South Korean Mithril and Elf transactions at international exchanges. Yonhap says Elf trading on overseas platforms rose by up to 40% as rumors began to spread in the early afternoon.

Bithumb made its official announcement four hours later, at 6pm, and began trading in the currencies within 30 minutes.

The company played down the possibility of a leak, issuing a statement saying, “Our ICO information can be seen only by a small number of employees. Our staff cannot trade virtual currency and any sort of information leak would be considered as a reason for disciplinary action.”