The post South Korea’s Korbit fined $2 million for money laundering appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

The South Korean crypto exchange Korbit has accepted a fine of nearly $2 million. The exchange also has an official warning for widespread failures in its AML and customer verification systems. In a statement, Korbit stated, “We respectfully and humbly accept the Financial Intelligence Unit’s decision to impose a fine. […] Despite the difficult circumstances, we have made this decision to ensure transparency and the healthy development of the crypto market.” The fine shakes up Korbit’s market presence in South Korea The Financial Intelligence Unit levied the penalties after finding that the company had broken many regulations for monitoring transactions. The FIU gave Korbit a warning along with the fine. Responsibility was also placed on senior leadership, with the exchange’s CEO receiving a caution and the reporting officer receiving a reprimand. According to the FIU, around 12,800 cases involved improper identity verification. These included accepting unclear or unverifiable ID documents, incomplete address information, and failures to carry out required re-verification.  Another 9,100 cases involved users being permitted to trade before verification was fully completed, violating rules that restrict transactions by unverified customers. Regulators also flagged 19 virtual asset transfers involving three overseas virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that were not properly reported. This was a breach of Korea’s rules regarding the handling of unregistered foreign entities. Additionally, the FIU identified 655 cases where Korbit failed to conduct mandatory money laundering risk assessments before introducing new transaction types, including NFT-related services. The fine is a major blow for Korbit, as the firm’s average daily trading volume has shrunk to just above the $12 million mark this year, representing a mere 0.5% of the South Korean market. This is below the country’s major exchange, Upbit, which consistently commands a market share of approximately 70% to over 80% of the total trading volume. …

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Filed under: News - @ January 13, 2026 6:28 pm