South Korea's Financial Watchdog Sanctions Korbit for Anti-Money Laundering Violations

Source: CryptoNewsNet Original Title: South Korea’s financial watchdog sanctions Korbit for anti-money laundering violations Original Link: South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has sanctioned Korbit following a comprehensive review that uncovered widespread anti-money laundering (AML) failures, according to a regulatory notice issued on December 31.

The country’s fourth-largest crypto exchange received an institutional warning and was fined KRW 2.7 billion (approximately $1.9 million) after inspectors found repeated violations of customer verification requirements and transaction restriction rules under the Specific Financial Information Act.

Korbit was found to have committed around 22,000 AML breaches, mainly related to incomplete KYC checks and permitting trading by unverified users. Regulators also flagged transfers to unregistered overseas platforms and 655 failures to conduct required money-laundering risk assessments.

Beyond the institutional fine and warning, the watchdog issued a warning to Korbit’s CEO and reprimanded the firm’s designated reporting officer. Korbit has at least ten days to submit comments before the regulator finalizes the penalty amount.

These measures emphasize the importance of legal compliance and aim to reinforce anti-money laundering capabilities in the crypto sector.

The FIU’s action follows reports that a major financial group was in talks to acquire Korbit for $100 million, which would mark the group’s initial entry into the digital asset sector.