Last updated on December 17th, 2025 at 02:53 pm
Quick Breakdown
- South Korea’s FIU is preparing a series of AML sanctions against major exchanges following onsite inspections.
- Penalties are expected to follow Dunamu’s precedent, with both institutional and managerial disciplinary measures likely.
- Korbit, Gopax, Bithumb, and Coinone are projected to face substantial fines as regulators tighten oversight into 2025.
South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is moving toward a wave of disciplinary actions against major domestic crypto exchanges after a series of anti-money laundering (AML) failures were uncovered during on-site inspections. The sanctions expected to mirror the severity of earlier penalties issued to Dunamu are set to reshape the compliance landscape for Korea’s digital-asset sector.
The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is expected to impose institutional and personal penalties on Korbit, Gopax, Bithumb, and Coinone in sequence, following Dunamu. Industry insiders expect the violations to be similar across exchanges, with penalties comparable to…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 24, 2025
Sanctions to follow inspection order
According to financial industry officials, the FIU has finalized most on-site AML inspections conducted throughout the past year at Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax. The agency is applying a “first-in, first-out” framework, meaning exchanges inspected earliest will receive sanctions first.
Dunamu, inspected in August last year, was the first to face penalties, including a reprimand for its CEO, a three-month freeze on onboarding new customers, and a ₩352 billion fine. Korbit (October), Gopax (December), Bithumb (March), and Coinone (April) are expected to follow in that sequence.
However, Bithumb’s timeline may shift after it underwent an additional inspection related to its order-book operations.
The FIU’s review has centred on repeated compliance violations, including Know-Your-Customer (KYC) lapses and failures to report suspicious transactions, issues identified consistently across multiple exchanges.
Heavy institutional penalties expected
Officials familiar with the process expect the sanctions to include both institutional and personal disciplinary measures, followed by significant fines. Given the similarities in the violations, industry observers anticipate that the severity will closely track the Dunamu case, raising expectations that other exchanges will also face multi-month operational restrictions and fines potentially reaching hundreds of billions of won.
While the FIU aims to advance each case swiftly, the remaining four exchanges are unlikely to complete their penalty process this year. Most rulings are expected to extend into the first half of next year, marking a prolonged period of regulatory tightening for Korea’s crypto market.
Notably, in January, South Korean authorities took regulatory action against Upbit, citing potential penalties for failing to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and problems that existed within its KYC system.
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