Wemade CEO Jang Hyun-guk on the Kim Nam-guk Incident: "Did Not Transfer WEMIX to Any Specific Individual"

Regarding the 'coin investment suspicion' involving independent lawmaker Kim Nam-guk, Jang Hyun-guk, CEO of Wemade, clarified that no free distribution of the issued coin WEMIX or pre-listing sales (private sales) were made to any specific individual in relation to lobbying allegations.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

CEO Jang explained this during an on-site visit by the People Power Party's Coin Gate Investigation Team at Wemade's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province on the 19th. He stated, "There are only four cases of private sales, none of which were targeted at individuals, and there are no other recipients," adding, "Airdrops (free distributions) are marketing promotion events aimed at acquiring more users, and it is practically impossible to use them to give coins to specific people."

WEMIX became the center of controversy, including legislative lobbying suspicions, after news spread that lawmaker Kim held a large amount of the coin. There were claims that Wemade might have delivered WEMIX to lawmaker Kim through airdrops or private sales, despite the unclear source of funds used to purchase the coins.

In response to People Power Party lawmaker Park Hyung-soo's question about whether lobbying was conducted in the National Assembly to pass the 'P2E (Play-to-Earn) bill,' CEO Jang said, "I did inform that domestic game laws were contradictory," and added, "I have never met with any lawmakers, but it might be possible to find out who did meet them at the time."

Furthermore, regarding People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Chang-hyun's inquiry about whether he was informed of any abnormal WEMIX transactions while serving as an inside director at Bithumb, CEO Jang firmly denied, saying, "There was absolutely none."

Lawmaker Yoon pointed out Wemade's investment in Bithumb's largest shareholder, Bident, in 2021. He said, "Wemade invested 100 billion KRW by purchasing Bident's bonds with warrants (BW) and convertible bonds (CB), and became an inside director at Bithumb," and asked, "Given that you likely had access to considerable information, were you ever briefed on lawmaker Kim's WEMIX investment?"

CEO Jang responded, "I had no knowledge of internal Bithumb transactions," and "I was never informed of any abnormal transactions at board meetings." He also explained the investment in Bident, stating, "We invested because we judged the exchange to be an industry with a future," and added, "Although there were concerns about conflicts of interest raised by the media at the time, the Financial Services Commission said there was no problem."

Previously, it was reported that Upbit reported Kim lawmaker's abnormal WEMIX transactions to financial authorities, but Bithumb did not. Additionally, suspicions arose because the period when CEO Jang served as an inside director at Bithumb overlapped with the timing of lawmaker Kim's WEMIX investment.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

After a closed-door meeting, People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sung-won told reporters, "During his closing remarks, CEO Jang expressed frustration over lawmaker Kim not disclosing transaction details," and added, "I believe providing all transaction details with the exchanges is the starting point to resolving the Coin Gate issue." He also mentioned, "We are currently in contact regarding a visit to Bithumb next week."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.