South Korea’s tax agency has handed down more than 80 billion won ($68.9 million) in taxation on the market’s top cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, raising controversies on the lack of assessment standards.

According to industry insiders, Vidente, the largest shareholder of Bithumb, announced Saturday via DART -- the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board -- that the National Tax Service has forced Bithumb to pay foreign customers’ withholding taxes worth 80.3 billion won, on gains they made from bitcoin investments.

Vidente found out about the tax imposition on Wednesday, when the firm acquired 34.24 percent of share from bithumb Holdings, Bithumb’s parent company. 

A foreign corporation without a permanent establishment in Korea is subject to withholding tax but the relatively new cryptocurrency industry is not yet subject to this taxation rule.

While abiding by the NTS’ notice for now, Bithumb is planning to come up with countermeasures -- possibly including an administrative litigation -- on a separate track.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)