South Korea fines Coinone $3.5M, orders partial business suspension: Reports

Coinone is the second to face South Korea’s crackdown on exchanges in the last month, following a $24 million fine and a six-month partial suspension order against Bithumb.

South Korea’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinone, is facing a fine and a partial business suspension over anti-money laundering lapses, according to multiple local media reports.

South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission accused Coinone of failing to comply with anti-money laundering obligations, including verifying user identities in about 70,000 cases, The Korea Times, Chosun and Yonhap News reported on Monday.

The FIU also alleged Coinone facilitated more than 10,000 transactions with 16 foreign exchanges not registered with South Korean regulators, despite repeated warnings.

Other accusations include violating customer due diligence obligations by marking customer verification as complete even when key information was missing, and by failing to restrict transactions for customers whose verification measures had not been completed.

Cointelegraph contacted Coinone for comment.

It marks South Korea’s second regulatory crackdown against exchanges in the last month, after Bithumb, the country’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, was fined $24 million and faced a six-month partial suspension in March for alleged anti-money laundering failures.

The moves come after Bithumb erroneously sent customers 620,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth around $42 billion at the time, instead of 620,000 Korean won, prompting the Bank of Korea to push for lawmakers to pass more stringent controls on exchanges.

The central bank said on Monday that lawmakers should consider introducing trading curbs to suspend trading in the event of unusual activity or if crypto prices suddenly fluctuate 

The FIU reportedly fined Coinone 5.2 billion won ($3.5 million) and imposed a three-month partial business suspension, which prevents new customers from depositing or withdrawing funds from the exchange until the ban is lifted.

Related: South Korea tightens crypto withdrawal-delay exemptions after scam losses

The exchange's chief executive officer, Cha Myung-hoon, is also receiving an official reprimand. However, it's an administrative enforcement rather than a criminal penalty.

Coinone has 10 days to dispute the action before the FIU finalizes the fine and other penalties, according to the reports.

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Source: CoinTelegraph