South Korea's Bithumb reportedly sees its revenue increase by 171-fold in 2017 compared to that of 2016

If you're wondering why equity investors tend to get caught up in the euphoria when a company is linked with cryptocurrencies/exchanges, this is a prime example.

Bithumb's parent company is BTCKorea (which only has one subsidiary - Bithumb itself) reported a revenue of $330 million for 2017 - or have you will a 171-times jump compared to what was reported in 2016.

The main source of revenue for Bithumb is its operating fee - in which it takes a 0.15% cut of every order placed in the exchange. And the surge in volume during December last year was a huge contributor to the company's revenue stream in 2017.

But the peculiar thing about this is that the company's net profit reported is actually higher than its revenue. Net profit was reported at $420 million for 2017, which is leaving investors puzzled.

The real issue for Bithumb is that if the company made this profit through non-operating income such as investment - such as those in Bitcoin. If they did, then 2018's financial performance will be less rosy as Bitcoin prices have slumped since Q4 last year.