Bithumb Faces Record 36 Billion Won Penalty Over AML Breaches

Bithumb will face a six-month partial business suspension and a 36.8 billion won (around US$28 million) penalty over repeated failures to meet customer verification obligations aimed at preventing money laundering.

This penalty is the largest ever imposed on a virtual asset exchange, surpassing the 35.2 billion won fine that authorities levied on Upbit in November last year.

Existing Bithumb users can continue trading, while new customers will face temporary limits on external transfers, though deposits, withdrawals, and trading remain unrestricted.

According to The Chosun Daily, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced on March 16 that the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) identified multiple legal violations during an on-site inspection of Bithumb from March 17 to April 18 of last year.

A sanctions review committee imposed penalties including the partial business suspension, a disciplinary warning for the CEO, and a six-month suspension for the reporting supervisor.

The FSC reported that Bithumb’s violations totaled 6.65 million cases.

The company supported 45,772 virtual asset transfers with 18 unregistered overseas businesses, failing to report as required under the Special Financial Information Act.

Authorities noted, “Despite repeated FIU requests to halt transactions with unregistered businesses, Bithumb showed significant lack of compliance intent.”

Most violations, around 6.59 million cases, involved inadequate customer verification.

This includes 3.55 million cases where identity information, addresses, or driver’s license serial numbers were not properly verified, and 3.04 million cases where transactions proceeded despite incomplete verification.

Bithumb also failed to retain copies of verification documents in roughly 16,000 instances.

Authorities will finalise the penalty after giving Bithumb at least 10 days to submit its opinion.

The Financial Services Commission emphasised,

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