The Financial Intelligence Unit under the Financial Services Commission of South Korea (FIU) announced sanctions on March 16 against the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb for violating the Act on Special Financial Information, which regulates virtual asset service providers.
Authorities identified the violations during an inspection of the country’s largest crypto platforms conducted in 2024–2025. The review covered five leading exchanges in the country: Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax.
During the inspection, the FIU found approximately 6.65 million violations of the law’s requirements at Bithumb. About 3.55 million cases were linked to breaches of customer identification procedures (KYC). Another approximately 3.04 million incidents involved failures to comply with transaction restriction obligations.
As a result of the review, regulators imposed a six-month partial restriction on operations and issued a fine of 36.8 billion won — roughly $25 million at the current exchange rate.
The regulator has applied similar measures in the past. Upbit’s operator, Dunamu, received a three-month partial business restriction and a fine of 352 billion won. Earlier this year, Korbit paid a fine of 2.73 billion won and received an institutional warning.
The disciplinary measures also affected the company’s leadership. The chief executive officer received an official warning, and the employee responsible for financial monitoring reporting was suspended for six months.
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