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South Korea Issues Provisional 2.73 Billion Won Fine to Korbit for AML Breaches

The FIU’s October 2024 inspection uncovered widespread verification lapses, with Korbit now granted over 10 days to contest the provisional penalty.

Overview

  • Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit cited violations of customer identification and trading restriction rules under the Special Financial Transactions Act.
  • Korbit received an institutional warning plus personnel sanctions, including a warning to the CEO and a reprimand for the reporting officer.
  • Regulators detailed about 22,000 trades by unverified users, 19 transactions with three unregistered overseas platforms, and 655 failures in required risk assessments, including for NFTs.
  • The sanctions decision remains provisional as the FIU allows Korbit more than 10 days to submit its views before the fine is finalized.
  • The action lands as market reports describe talks for Mirae Asset to acquire a majority stake in Korbit in a deal reported up to about $98 million, following a broader crackdown that earlier saw Upbit operator Dunamu fined roughly $25 million.