South Korea Hits Bithumb With $24.5M Fine Over AML Violations

South Korea fined crypto exchange Bithumb 36.8 billion won (about $24.5 million) and imposed a six-month partial business suspension after regulators found widespread breaches of anti-money-laundering rules. The inspection identified roughly 6.65 million violations, including failures in customer identity verification, transaction restrictions and record-keeping.

It is the largest fine yet imposed on a South Korean crypto exchange. Authorities found Bithumb facilitated 45,772 crypto transfers involving 18 unregistered overseas virtual asset service providers, in violation of the country's AML rules. The Financial Intelligence Unit under the Financial Services Commission decided on the penalties following a sanctions deliberation committee meeting that reviewed the exchange’s compliance with the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information.

Under the measures, Bithumb is banned from processing external crypto transfers for new customers for six months, from March 27 to Sept. 26.

South Korea

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