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Korbit fined $1.9 mil. over anti-money laundering lapses
Officials are seen at the Financial Services Commission at Government Complex Seoul, Sept. 9, 2025. Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki
By Jun Ji-hye
Cryptocurrency exchange Korbit has been slapped with an institutional warning and a 2.73 billion won ($1.9 million) fine for breaching anti-money laundering rules, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Wednesday.
The penalties were decided by the sanctions review committee of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which operates under the country’s top financial regulator.
Disciplinary actions were also taken against senior executives, with the company’s CEO receiving a “caution” and the reporting officer facing a “reprimand.”
The FIU’s comprehensive on-site inspection uncovered multiple violations of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, including breaches of customer due diligence requirements, failures to restrict transactions and violations of the ban on dealings with unreported virtual asset service providers.
Authorities identified around 22,000 cases involving improper customer identification and transaction controls. Under the law, virtual asset operators are required to block transactions for customers whose verification procedures have not been completed, but Korbit allowed trading to continue in numerous cases.
The violations included approving customers based on unclear identification documents or photo files and completing verification despite missing or inappropriate address information.
Authorities also found that Korbit facilitated 19 virtual asset transfer transactions involving three overseas operators that had failed to comply with reporting obligations under the law, constituting a breach of rules banning dealings with unregistered providers.
“We will continue to take a tough stance on serious legal violations and work to reinforce anti-money laundering standards and compliance systems to ensure the virtual asset market develops in a manner that maintains public confidence,” an FIU official said.