South Korean regulators have fined cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb approximately $25 million and suspended its operations for six months due to anti-money laundering and identity verification violations.
On March 16, South Korea‘s Financial Intelligence Unit, operating under the Financial Services Commission, completed Investigation of Bithumb’s activities following the discovery of violations under the Financial Transaction Information Act.
As a result, it was established that the exchange had committed numerous violations (from 6,59 million to 6,65 million) and should pay a fine from 36,8 to 37 billion won, equivalent to $24-25 million.
The Financial Intelligence Unit also identified thousands of transactions linked to 18 overseas virtual asset providers that were not registered with South Korean authorities and therefore operated without a license.
In addition to the fine, authorities imposed a partial suspension of operations for six months. This measure restricts new users from transferring virtual assets to external wallets or platforms, while existing clients will not experience any inconvenience.
Given the scale of the violations, Bithumb’s CEO was given an official reprimand, but no other sanctions were announced.
The trading platform team has now been given 10 days to submit an official response, after which the restrictive measures will be finalized and put into effect. A representative of the exchange has already promised that the company will take all necessary measures to address the gaps and comply with all applicable regulations.