South Korea’s Monetary Intelligence Unit (FIU) has fined cryptocurrency trade Bithumb 36.8 billion received ($24.6 million) and ordered a six-month partial suspension of new-user companies after uncovering tens of millions of anti-money laundering (AML) violations, in line with native reporting.
The FIU’s investigation discovered roughly 6.65 million breaches of the nation’s AML and buyer verification guidelines. About 3.55 million concerned failures to confirm buyer identities, whereas 3.04 million circumstances involved transactions that ought to have been blocked however had been allowed.
Authorities additionally recognized 45,772 transactions with 18 unregistered abroad exchanges.
The sanctions, a part of ongoing regulatory oversight of South Korea’s high crypto platforms, embrace a reprimand for Bithumb’s CEO and a six-month suspension for the trade’s reporting officer.
Present prospects can proceed buying and selling, whereas the restrictions primarily have an effect on new person account exercise, together with deposits and withdrawals.
Bithumb, based in 2014, is one among South Korea’s largest exchanges by buying and selling quantity. The fantastic is the nation’s largest imposed on a digital asset trade, barely surpassing a 35.2 billion received penalty handed to Upbit in 2025.
The violations had been uncovered throughout on-site inspections of South Korea’s 5 largest crypto exchanges between 2024 and 2025.
Regulators have emphasised that strict compliance with buyer verification and AML obligations is essential to sustaining market belief.
Bithumb’s bitcoin blunder
The announcement comes simply weeks after Bithumb by chance despatched billions of {dollars} price of Bitcoin to customers throughout a promotional occasion.
The trade had deliberate to distribute small money rewards by a “Random Field” occasion at round 6 p.m. native time. Winners had been speculated to obtain between 20,000 and 50,000 Korean received.
As a substitute, employees reportedly entered the fee unit as Bitcoin reasonably than received.
Because of this, some customers acquired at the least 2,000 BTC every, price roughly 196 billion received per particular person based mostly on costs close to 98 million received per Bitcoin on the time, in line with social media screenshots and accounts.
The operational error briefly induced Bitcoin costs on the platform to drop over 10% beneath broader market ranges. Bithumb said the incident didn’t end in any buyer losses.
The FIU will finalize the fantastic after giving Bithumb at the least 10 days to submit its opinion.
Authorities mentioned the enforcement motion alerts continued tightening of crypto market oversight in South Korea.
On the time of writing, Bitcoin is buying and selling close to $74,000.
