South Korean regulators have fined crypto exchange Bithumb 36.8 billion won (about $24.5 million) and imposed a six-month partial business suspension after finding widespread violations of anti-money laundering (AML) rules, Yonhap News Agency reported. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC) identified roughly 6.65 million violations during an AML inspection, including failures in customer identity verification, transaction restrictions and record-keeping.
Authorities found Bithumb facilitated 45,772 cryptocurrency transfers involving 18 unregistered overseas virtual asset service providers (VASPs), breaching South Korea’s AML rules. The FIU’s sanctions deliberation committee reached the penalties after reviewing the exchange’s compliance with the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information. The fine is the largest levied so far against a South Korean crypto exchange amid an ongoing regulatory crackdown on AML compliance.
The partial suspension bars Bithumb from processing external crypto transfers for new customers for six months, from March 27 to Sept. 26. Existing users will not face trading restrictions, and new customers can still buy or sell crypto and deposit or withdraw Korean won from the platform. The FIU said it repeatedly warned Bithumb to stop transactions with unregistered overseas crypto firms but the exchange failed to implement effective blocking measures. On March 9 the FIU issued a preliminary notice of a six-month partial suspension before finalizing the sanctions.
The move follows earlier enforcement actions against other South Korean exchanges. In February 2025 the FIU restricted deposits and withdrawals for new customers at Upbit for three months and fined the exchange 35.2 billion won (about $23.5 million) over dealings with unregistered VASPs. In December 2025 the FIU fined Korbit 2.73 billion won (about $1.8 million) and issued an institutional warning for AML and customer-verification breaches.
