South Korea's FIU imposes a fine of 24.6 million USD on Bithumb and orders a partial business suspension for 6 months

According to CoinDesk, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea has fined the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb 36.8 billion won (approximately 24.6 million USD) for violating anti-money laundering regulations and has ordered a partial business suspension for six months.

According to the Financial Services Commission, this penalty is based on the Act on Reporting and Using Specific Financial Transaction Information, stemming from approximately 6.65 million violations by Bithumb, of which about 3.55 million involved failure to fulfill customer identity verification (KYC) obligations, and about 3.04 million involved failure to effectively intercept transactions that should have been restricted.

Regulators also imposed penalties on responsible individuals: the CEO of Bithumb received a warning, and the head of compliance reporting was suspended for six months.

The aforementioned violations arose from on-site inspections conducted by South Korean regulatory authorities on the five major exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, between 2024 and 2025.