Bithumb, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, has been found in violation of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, resulting in a hefty fine of 36.8 billion won. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission held a sanction review committee meeting on the 16th, where it decided to impose the fine due to significant violations of the Special Financial Transactions Act. This act aims to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing by imposing customer verification, suspicious transaction reporting, and transaction restriction obligations on virtual asset service providers.

The FIU's investigation revealed that Bithumb's violations totaled around 6.65 million instances, with approximately 6.59 million cases related to customer identification and transaction restriction failures. Issues included accepting poorly verified identification documents and allowing transactions from customers whose identities had not been fully verified. Furthermore, Bithumb was found to have supported 40,772 cryptocurrency transfer transactions with 18 undisclosed foreign virtual asset businesses, violating the prohibition on trading with unlicensed entities, alongside numerous cases of deficiencies in record-keeping for identity verification materials.

As a result of the scale and nature of these violations, the FIU has not only imposed the substantial fine but has also mandated a six-month suspension of part of Bithumb's operations (from March 27 to September 26). During this suspension period, external transfers of virtual assets for new customers will be temporarily restricted, although existing clients can continue to utilize exchange services normally. The sanctions extend to the executive level, with a reprimand for the CEO and a six-month suspension for the person responsible for AML reporting, indicating serious accountability measures taken by the FIU.