meta_id 2974663

On March 17, 2026, South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced enforcement actions against Bithumb Co., Ltd., a crypto-asset business operator, following a comprehensive on-site inspection conducted between March and April 2025. The FIU identified approximately 6.65 million violations of the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information (Specific Financial Information Act). Key violations included: failing to prohibit transactions with 18 unregistered overseas crypto-asset operators, processing 45,772 virtual asset transfer transactions in breach of transaction prohibition requirements; failing to complete customer identification procedures on approximately 3.55 million occasions, including accepting unclear identity documents and incomplete address information; and failing to restrict transactions for customers whose identification procedures remained incomplete in approximately 3.04 million instances. Additionally, the FIU identified approximately 16,000 violations of record-keeping obligations related to customer identification documents. The FIU imposed a six-month partial suspension of business operations (effective March 27 to September 26, 2026), during which existing customers may trade without restriction, though new customer external virtual asset transfers are temporarily limited. The FIU also imposed administrative fines totalling 36.8 billion Korean won. Personnel sanctions included a written warning for the chief executive officer and a six-month suspension for the reporting officer responsible for compliance. The FIU will issue advance notice of administrative fines and provide a minimum 10-day period for submission of written responses before finalising the penalty amount. Further on-site inspection follow-up actions will proceed sequentially, with the FIU committing to strict enforcement against future Specific Financial Information Act violations.