South Korea To Sanction Exchanges Over AML Compliance Failures

South Korea is serious about its anti-money laundering laws, and as such, the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is all set to sanction crypto exchanges that are not following the protocols to the T.

According to the regulatory body, not clamping down on companies that don’t follow protocols hurts the integrity of the country’s growing crypto market, which has gained political momentum in recent times. As of this moment, the FIU has already taken action against Dunamu, the parent company behind Upbit, Korea’s largest crypto exchange, recently acquired by Naver.

Furthermore, it has inspected other big names, including Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX, to see if they were following proper customer identity verification protocols and reporting suspicious transactions to the authorities on time.

According to a local report published on 24 November 2025, authorities in the country are currently preparing fines and penalties not just against these companies, but also against individuals breaking anti-money laundering laws. The Korean FIU is working through the cases in the same order it inspected the exchanges in the first place.

The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is expected to impose institutional and personal penalties on Korbit, Gopax, Bithumb, and Coinone in sequence, following Dunamu. Industry insiders expect the violations to be similar across exchanges, with penalties comparable to…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 24, 2025

As of now, most of the inspections are done. Legal reviews and sanction committees are looking things over. Since the FIU is following the order of its examinations, per the report, industry experts are expecting penalties to roll out in the same sequence, i.e., Upbit first, then Korbit, GOPAX, Bithumb, and Coinone.

Bithumb may face more delays, however. The regulators are going through Bithumb’s order book operations with a fine-tooth comb.

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Dunamu Sanction To Serve As A Blueprint For Other South Korean Exchanges

Korean experts expect the FIU to dole out penalties to the rest of the crypto exchanges in much the same way as it did to Dunamu. With Dunamu, the FIU first issued warnings and sanctions against the company and its CEO, and only then decided on the fine that the company needs to fork up.

Dunamu’s CEO received a disciplinary warning in February this year, and the exchange was barred from receiving new deposits or withdrawals for three months. Fast forwarding to 6 November 2025, FIU charged the company 35.2 billion won (approx. $25.7 million) for rule violations.

@Official_Upbit faces billions in fines for over 700,000 KYC violations as South Korea tightens its crypto regulations.#Upbit #FSChttps://t.co/SZzYlT4ted

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) February 18, 2025

Because the inspectors examined similar anti-money laundering protocols across other major exchanges in the country, industry insiders expect other platforms to face similar penalties.

Financial hawks in the Korean crypto landscape believe that the total fine spread across the platforms could reach hundreds of billions of won. The exact number, however, depends on how serious their violations are.

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FIU Extends Oversight As New Tax Regime Faces Delays

Currently, the FIU still has four more exchanges to penalize, and it doesn’t look like the regulatory body will manage to complete the process before the end of the year. Judging by the pace of the examinations and penalties, it seems like the remaining cases will be settled by mid-next year.

Meanwhile, the country is struggling to implement its new crypto tax regime. Officials have admitted that they are not ready to start taxing digital assets by January 2027 and have pointed to inadequate infrastructure and unclear guidelines.

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The post South Korea To Sanction Exchanges Over AML Compliance Failures appeared first on 99Bitcoins.

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