South Korea has fined cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb 36.8 billion won (~$24 million) and imposed a six-month partial business suspension for widespread Anti-Money Laundering (AML) violations.
Regulators identified over 6.65 million compliance failures, including inadequate customer verification, transaction monitoring, and record-keeping. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) found Bithumb facilitated 45,772 crypto transfers involving 18 unregistered overseas virtual asset service providers (VASPs), breaching national AML rules.
Under the penalty, Bithumb must halt external crypto transfers for new users from March 27 to September 26. Existing users remain unaffected, and new customers may still trade KRW and perform deposits or withdrawals.
The FIU had previously issued a warning and a preliminary notice in March, citing repeated failures to block transactions with unregistered foreign platforms.
This marks the harshest penalty yet on a South Korean exchange amid a broader regulatory crackdown. In 2025, Upbit faced a three-month deposit/withdrawal freeze and a $23.5 million fine, while Korbit was fined $1.8 million for similar breaches.