South Korea’s financial regulator has ordered Upbit, the country’s largest crypto exchange, to halt business operations for alleged anti-money laundering violations, particularly in regards to fulfilling know-your-customer requirements.
According to the Maeil Business Newspaper, the Financial Intelligence Unit (an agency under the financial regulator) delivered the penalty on January 9 and Upbit has until next Monday to respond. The final decision is expected the following day.
If the penalty remains in place, Upbit could face up to six months of restrictions in doing business with new customers. The FIU reportedly found 700,000 potential violations of know-your-customer obligations after conducting on-site inspections following Upbit’s application for license renewal in August.
These violations could result in fines of up to 100 million Korean won ($68,596) per instance under the Act of Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information.
