Bithumb Hit With $24.5M Fine and Six-Month Trading Restrictions by South Korean Regulators
Following an investigation that uncovered anti-money laundering violations, South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit has imposed a $24.5 million penalty on Bithumb and instituted a partial six-month operational suspension.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has been slapped with a 36.8 billion won fine (approximately $24.5 million) by South Korean authorities, who have also mandated a partial suspension of business operations for six months following the discovery of extensive Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulation breaches, as reported by the Yonhap News Agency.
As detailed by Yonhap, the regulatory examination uncovered approximately 6.65 million infractions during the AML review, encompassing deficiencies in customer identity verification procedures, transaction restriction protocols and record-keeping obligations. The investigation revealed that Bithumb enabled 45,772 cryptocurrency transfers connected to 18 overseas virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that lacked proper registration, contravening South Korea's AML regulations.
The penalties were determined by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which operates under the Financial Services Commission (FSC), reportedly following a sanctions deliberation committee session that examined the platform's adherence to the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information.
This punitive action represents the most substantial financial penalty ever levied against a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, marking another chapter in the country's intensifying regulatory enforcement of AML compliance standards.
South Korea imposes a six-month partial ban on Bithumb
According to the enforcement measures, Bithumb faces a prohibition on processing external cryptocurrency transfers for newly registered customers spanning six months, running from March 27 through Sept. 26.
Nonetheless, current users will experience no limitations on their trading activities, and newly registered customers retain the ability to purchase or sell cryptocurrencies and make deposits or withdrawals of Korean won through the platform.
The FIU indicated that it had issued multiple warnings to Bithumb instructing the exchange to cease conducting transactions with overseas crypto companies lacking proper registration. Despite these warnings, the regulatory body stated that the platform did not comply and proved unable to put in place adequate blocking mechanisms.
On March 9, Bithumb received from the FIU a preliminary notification regarding the six-month partial suspension, reflecting the regulator's concerns about Bithumb's regulatory breaches prior to finalizing the sanctions.
South Korea's broader AML enforcement drive
Beyond Bithumb, the FIU has also issued penalties to additional South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges for violations of AML regulations.
During February 2025, the regulatory authority imposed a three-month limitation on cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals for newly registered Upbit customers following the identification of violations connected to transactions with unregistered VASPs. Upbit was also hit with a 35.2 billion won penalty (approximately $23.5 million).
The enforcement campaign subsequently extended to cryptocurrency platform Korbit. During December 2025, the FIU levied a 2.73 billion won fine (roughly $1.8 million) and issued an institutional warning to the exchange regarding AML and customer-verification violations.