South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has launched a 16-day campaign offering customers rewards of up to ₩200 million ($135,000 approximately) each for transferring selected digital assets from competing exchanges or external wallets.
The promotion began on November 12, 2026, at 18:00 Korea Standard Time and runs through November 27. Participants must transfer at least ₩10 million in qualifying net deposits per eligible cryptocurrency, with rewards scheduled for December 9.
Unlike conventional trading competitions, the campaign rewards the value of externally transferred cryptocurrency retained on Bithumb rather than requiring participants to generate trading volume. The ₩200 million figure represents the maximum individual reward, not an announced campaign budget or a guaranteed payment.
The offer sounds simple, until the arithmetic starts.
Thirty cryptocurrencies qualify for deposit rewards
Bithumb’s promotional materials identify 30 eligible cryptocurrencies, including Aave (AAVE), Aptos (APT), LayerZero (ZRO), Jupiter (JUP), AltLayer (ALT), Lisk (LSK), WalletConnect (W), and Aethir-related alternatives are not among the listed assets. Other designated tokens include Gigachad-related GTC, KAT, IRYS, WAL, MPLX, DOOD, PUFFER, and FOLD.
The published list excludes Bitcoin, Ethereum, and major stablecoins, concentrating the incentive on selected alternative cryptocurrencies rather than the exchange’s largest markets.
There is also an inconsistency between Bithumb’s published reward terms.
The November 12 announcement on Bithumb’s notice feed specifies a reward equal to 1% of recognized net deposits. Its accompanying promotional table confirms the same percentage. A seperate official event page for the campaign, however, states a lower rate of 0.8%.
Both figures are there, on pages maintained by the same exchange.
At 1%, a customer transferring ₩100 million in qualifying assets would earn ₩1 million before applicable taxes. The alternative 0.8% rate would produce ₩800,000. Reaching the ₩200 million maximum would theoretically require ₩20 billion in recognized deposits at 1%, compared with ₩25 billion at 0.8%.
The published materials do not explain the discrepancy. Customers therefore need confirmation of the applicable percentage before relying on either calculation.
Participation is also restricted. An indexed version of Bithumb’s announcement states that customers must have received an invitation through its official KakaoTalk channel, although that invitation requirement is absent from the currently displayed notice.
The published conditions require completed identity verification and a linked KB Kookmin Bank account. Corporate accounts, foreign nationals, and customers under 19 are excluded under Bithumb’s stated eligibility rules. Customers must also maintain the required verification and marketing-consent status when rewards are distributed.
Withdrawal rules make net deposits the deciding factor
Bithumb calculates qualifying balances by subtracting withdrawals from external deposits across all designated cryptocurrencies. Customers must register for the campaign before making qualifying deposits, and transfers between existing Bithumb accounts do not count.
The calculation extends beyond the advertised campaign period. While new deposits count only through November 27, eligible-asset withdrawals can reduce recognized balances through December 8, the day before rewards are scheduled for distribution.
And the withdrawal clock, it runs past November 27.
For example, a participant depositing ₩15 million in one eligible token and subsequently withdrawing ₩3 million of another would have a combined recognized amount of ₩12 million, assuming no other adjustments.
Positive net deposits below ₩10 million for an individual token are excluded from the qualifying total. Negative balances, however, remain part of the calculation, preventing customers from offsetting withdrawals with small deposits that would not otherwise qualify.
Bithumb converts deposits and withdrawals into won using its market prices at the respective transaction times. Consequently, the recognized amount can differ from the current market value of the tokens held.
The exchange also reserves the right to remove eligible assets, close individual token promotions early, or exclude cryptocurrencies designated for trading caution. Repeated transfers between related accounts, abnormal transactions, and suspected market manipulation can disqualify participants.
Cash rewards face a 22% withholding deduction
Eligible customers can choose between Korean-won rewards and trading-fee coupons. Participants who do not make a selection automatically recieve their rewards in won.
Cash rewards exceeding ₩50,000 are subject to a 22% withholding deduction. A gross reward of ₩1 million would therefore produce an initial payment of ₩780,000. Bithumb also warns that annual other income exceeding ₩3 million may be subject to comprehensive income taxation.
The cash benefit carries an additonal activity requirement: rewards can expire if customers complete no trading within 30 days after payment.
Trading-fee coupons are treated differently. Bithumb says they are not subject to the same withholding deduction and remain valid for one year.
The exchange calculates fee-free trading capacity by dividing the reward amount by 0.04%, meaning a ₩10 million coupon corresponds to as much as ₩25 billion in eligible fee-free trading volume.
That is a lot of fee-free trading on paper, not necessarily a lot actually used.
The economic value depends on subsequent trading activity. Customers who trade infrequently may benefit more from the cash option despite withholding, while active traders could potentially realize greater value from fee discounts.
The campaign cannot be combined with several existing Bithumb incentive programs, including certain VIP matching, asset-transfer support, and API trading promotions.
Bithumb targets rival exchange balances as trading slows
The November campaign extends a strategy Bithumb has pursued throughout 2026, but changes the behavior it rewards.
In October, the exchange introduced targeted incentives for importing tokens and executing maker sell orders in newly listed markets, including PONS and DeAgentAI (AIA).
Those promotions combined external asset transfers with actual trading activity, offering rewards of between 0.7% and 1.5% of recognized amounts. The November program removes the explicit maker-sale requirement, placing greater emphasis on attracting and retaining cryptocurrency inventory.
The strategy comes during a contraction in South Korea’s cryptocurrency trading industry.
According to the Financial Services Commission’s October 1 survey of virtual asset service providers, average daily cryptocurrency trading volume fell 44% to ₩3.1 trillion in the first half of 2026, compared with ₩5.4 trillion in the second half of 2025.
Won-denominated customer deposits declined 35%, from ₩8.1 trillion to ₩5.2 trillion, while exchange operating profits fell 78% over the same comparison period.
These figures describe the broader Korean market rather than Bithumb’s individual financial performance. They nevertheless establish the commercial environment in which exchanges are competing for a smaller pool of customer capital and trading activity.
Other platforms have taken different approaches to incentivizing customers. MEXC, for example, introduced volume-based rewards for prediction-market traders, while Binance has used maker rebates to attract liquidity providers.
Bithumb’s latest structure instead pays for assets arriving from outside its platform. Increasing the inventory held on an exchange can create more opportunities for subsequent trading, but deposits alone do not establish that order-book liquidity or transaction revenue has increased.
The coins arrive, but the trading may or may not.
The November campaign also differs from Bithumb’s previuos deposit-and-sale promotions by allowing customers to qualify without immediately disposing of their transferred tokens. That could appeal to existing holders who want to preserve their cryptocurrency exposure while collecting an incentive for changing custody venues.
Still, Bithumb has not disclosed the campaign’s overall spending limit, expected number of participants, or target net inflows. The ₩200 million individual ceiling cannot be used to estimate total acquisition costs without those figures.
The first measurable results will emerge after the November 27 deposit deadline and December 9 reward distribution. Retained token balances, the number of qualifying customers, and their subsequent trading activity would provide a stronger assessment of the campaign than the maximum advertised reward alone.
Johan Shamshad is Editor-in-Chief at Dave Finances, covering financial markets, digital assets, trading platforms, brokers, fintech, payments and regulation. Since 2023, he has also worked as an editor at Gulf News, the UAE English-language newspaper published by Al Nisr Publishing LLC. His work focuses on market-moving developments, company disclosures, regulatory changes and trading infrastructure, with an emphasis on primary-source verification and practical context for traders and investors.