South Korean financial authorities will sanction a number of crypto exchanges in succession, with major penalties likely to be unavoidable

According to market news, South Korean financial authorities are expected to continue to impose sanctions on cryptocurrency exchanges in the country for violating their anti-money laundering obligations. After completing the penalty against Dunamu (the operator of Upbit), the FIU plans to take action against other exchanges such as Korbit, Gopax, Bithumb, and Coinone in sequence.
The Financial Supervisory Service has completed on-site inspections of the above-mentioned exchanges since last year, and is currently in the stage of legal review and sanctions review. The FIU will be processed in the order in which the inspection is completed, but due to the need for Bithumb to be reviewed, its processing sequence may be postponed. The market expects that the sanctions imposed on each exchange will be more similar. Previously, the FIU had warned the head of Dunamu in February this year and imposed a three-month suspension of deposits and withdrawals for new customers. Then on November 6, it imposed a fine of 35.20 billion won. The other exchanges are also expected to face fines of tens of billions of won, and the specific amount will be determined according to the circumstances of the violation. Due to the huge workload of pending cases, the FIU expects that it will be difficult to complete all procedures within this year, and most sanctions may be postponed until the first half of next year.