TechFlow News, March 11: According to Dlnews, South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb faces “major disciplinary action” from financial regulators for violating anti-money laundering (AML) protocols.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a subsidiary of South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC), notified Bithumb that the impending sanctions may include “a six-month suspension of new user registrations.” A Bithumb spokesperson stated that restrictions on cryptocurrency services apply only to new customers; existing users may continue trading, depositing, and withdrawing normally.
During an inspection last year, the FIU found that Bithumb permitted customers to send cryptocurrencies to unregistered overseas cryptocurrency exchanges and that staff failed to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. The FIU is expected to formally announce its decision at a sanctions review committee meeting by the end of this month and will likely impose disciplinary measures on Bithumb’s senior management.
Prior to this incident, Bithumb had already been embroiled in controversy after mistakenly issuing Bitcoin worth $40 billion and is currently under investigation by advertising regulators.
