South Korea’s financial intelligence agency has taken action against 16 foreign cryptocurrency exchanges operating illegally in the country. “Illegal business activities of unregistered entities can be punished with up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won,” the regulator said.
16 Foreign Crypto Exchanges Flagged By South Korean Regulators
South Korea’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), on Thursday notified investigative authorities of the illegal business activities of 16 unregistered virtual asset service providers (VASPs), the country’s financial intelligence agency (KoFIU). announced.
KoFIU is the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea and Asia’s leading agency for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
The 16 entities are Kucoin, MEXC, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, ZB.com, Bitglobal, Coinw, Coinex, AAX, Zoomex, Poloniex, BTCEX, BTCC, Digifinex, and Pionex.
According to the regulator, all 16 cryptocurrency exchanges are based outside of South Korea with no formal domestic presence and are known to engage in cryptocurrency business activities aimed at domestic consumers. For example, it will provide a Korean-language website, hold promotional events aimed at South Korean consumers, and offer payment options to purchase cryptocurrencies using credit cards in the country. I am doing
KoFIU notified foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges on July 22 last year that they must register their businesses with the authorities. However, the aforementioned 16 entities continued to operate in South Korea without obtaining registration.
The official details:
Imprisonment for up to 5 years or up to 50 million won for illegal business activities of unregistered businesses [$38,000] You can restrict yourself from registering as a VASP in your home market for a period of time and impose a fine of 100%.
The regulator said it will notify financial authorities in jurisdictions hosting service providers and suspend related credit card processing in the domestic market. Furthermore, “transfers of virtual assets to and from 16 unregistered entities will be impossible as the authorities have issued administrative guidance requiring the suspension of transactions between registered and unregistered entities,” KoFIU said. explained.
The regulator stressed that “the authorities will take necessary measures” to stop crypto service providers from operating in South Korea without registration, emphasizing:
KoFIU will continue to closely monitor illegal business activities by unregistered entities and maintain close cooperation with relevant authorities.
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