Major South Korean Crypto Exchange Bithumb Launches R&D Center

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has established its own research and development (R&D) center.

According to an announcement on Jan. 6, the initiative makes Bithumb the first company with a blockchain and cryptocurrency research center in South Korea. Bithumb expressed high hopes for the research center’s impact on the company:

“Bithumb will become a leading company in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem by strengthening its own R&D capabilities.”

The center’s purpose

The new R&D center is going to employ around 30 people and will start its activities this month. Bithumb’s research team will study system architecture design to strengthen public blockchain transaction analysis and cryptocurrency private key security.

The architecture research team will focus on high-performance transaction matching systems that can respond to large simultaneous orders. Bithumb also plans to analyze blockchains to isolate cryptocurrency trading transactions and develop a system for user address generation that allows for deposits and withdrawals on its exchange.

The exchange plans to develop security enhancement technologies related to encryption, separation of functions and implementation of verification systems that allow for the safe storage and use of private keys. Bithumb’s research team will also work on high-availability and high-performance data exchange between blockchains and databases.

Additionally, the staff has been tasked with building an application programming interface for its cryptocurrency trading platform and upgrading its matching engine.

Increasing blockchain research spending

As blockchain and cryptocurrency increasingly show potential beyond the initial hype, more and more funds are being poured into relevant research.

As Cointelegraph reported at the end of December, Tencent, the operator of Chinese social media app WeChat, is planning to create a digital currency research group for the further advancement of blockchain technology research projects.

Furthermore, Chinese state-run publication Xinhua forecasted that the nation’s spending on blockchain technology will exceed $2 billion in 2023. A report published in September 2019 by market research firm Global Market Insights suggests that the global blockchain technology market is set to surpass $16 billion by 2024.