The whole point of a Bitcoin treasury firm is that it is supposed to hold the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Right?

If so, why is a South Korean company that markets itself as a digital asset treasury moving all of its Bitcoin holdings from secure cold wallets to hot wallets on overseas crypto exchanges?

That’s the question BitMax is being forced to answer after South Korean newspaper Maeil Kyungjae revealed that the DAT had moved its stockpile from secure cold wallets operated by the country’s biggest bank to crypto exchanges abroad.

While an unnamed blockchain expert told the newspaper it was “possible” to interpret the move as a precursor to a BitMax move to offload its Bitcoin, the company denies it is about to sell its crypto.

“We have not sold a single Bitcoin,” Hong Sang-hyeok, the company’s CEO, wrote in a statement posted on the BitMax website. “We currently hold our coins in a distributed manner across various secure accounts to enhance security and improve operational efficiency.”

The episode comes on the back of a string of setbacks for BitMax, which suffered $52 million in net losses in the third quarter of 2025 and has been forced to downsize the research and development budget of its core augmented reality operations.

It is not the only DAT navigating rocky financial waters.

Companies across the world that sought to emulate the successful business plan pioneered by Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury Strategy in 2025 have found themselves burdened by outsized losses and investor rebellions.

In South Korea, things are even more complex for these companies. The nation’s regulators do not currently allow companies to open corporate wallets on domestic crypto exchanges, but have recently signalled a willingness to reverse this rule.

Tough economic times

BitMax, previously known as MAXST, was founded as a metaverse and AR company in 2010.

It floated on the Korea Exchange shortly after. It was one of over 200 publicly listed companies that pivoted to becoming a DAT in 2025.

Since then, BitMax has used its balance sheet to buy around 550 Bitcoin, worth roughly $39 million, from undisclosed, non-exchange sources. It then transferred the Bitcoin to Korea Digital Asset, South Korea’s leading crypto custodian.

Korea Digital Asset is a joint venture that is co-run by Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s largest commercial bank.

Yet BitMax has since, like many of its peers, begun to feel the strain of a market downturn that has shaved over 40% of Bitcoin’s market value since October.

In November, it reported consolidated net losses of $52 million and a 1,582% rise in total debt in the space of just nine months.

The firm also announced it had slashed its research and development budget for its AR business by 66% in 2025.

This dire financial data was followed by a decision by the Korea Exchange to suspend trading in BitMax common stock, South Korean media outlet Top Star News reported on March 16.

Some market observers have speculated that the company could face a delisting order from the Korea Exchange, South Korean media outlet Newsis reported.

The company has responded by commissioning an external audit, which it says confirms the “reliability” of its financial statements.

The firm said the losses it incurred last year were “accounting valuation losses that did not involve cash outflows.”

“There are no issues with our intrinsic competitiveness or fundamental structure,” a spokesperson for the firm said, per Newsis.

On March 9, the company announced a share consolidation deal to eliminate its accumulated losses.

It is against this backdrop that BitMax now finds itself facing some uncomfortable questions about its Bitcoin holdings.

The latest episode began after Maeil Kyungjae reported that BitMax sent all of its Bitcoin holdings, in increments worth between $3.5 million and $7 million, to addresses on Bybit, Binance, and other non-Korean platforms between mid-January and late February.

“It is possible that BitMax split and sent its Bitcoin to multiple exchanges so the firm could systematically sell the coins without incurring excess losses,” the unnamed blockchain expert told Maeil Kyungjae.

These are the claims that BitMax is now denying.