South Korea Issues Suspension Order Against Upbit

According to a report from Maeil, Upbit, one of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, may face sanctions for not complying with the country’s anti-money laundering and know your customer (KYC) requirements.

The Financial Information Analysis Institute (FIU), a division of the Financial Services Commission, allegedly notified Upbit of the potential sanctions last week. If the sanctions are confirmed, Upbit could be banned from conducting new customer transactions for up to six months.

This would mean that customers would not be able to transfer virtual assets outside of the exchange during this period. In response to these reports, Upbit stated that it will submit its opinion on the sanctions to the FIU by the 20th of this month, and the FIU will then review the decision.

Authorities in South Korea have promised to increase scrutiny of cryptocurrency exchanges in 2022, following the collapse of stablecoin issuer Terra.