FSC to step up anti-money laundering measures for crypto assets…expand Travel Rule, move to regulate stablecoins

The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC) will overhaul its regulatory framework, making the blocking of money laundering via crypto assets a key policy task. It plans to broaden the scope of the Travel Rule and, in line with moves to institutionalize stablecoins, tighten anti-money laundering (AML) rules across the issuance and distribution stages.

On the 5th, the FIU announced its 2026 plan for carrying out key AML tasks. Marking the 25th year since the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information took effect, the plan aims to respond to a changing money-laundering landscape, with crypto assets identified as a major area of supervision.

In the crypto sector, strengthening the Travel Rule is the centerpiece. The FIU is pushing to extend the obligation to provide sender and recipient information—currently applied only to transactions of 1 million won or more between domestic crypto exchanges—to transactions below 1 million won as well. The idea is to increase traceability by imposing responsibility for securing user information on the receiving exchange as well as the sending exchange.

Transactions involving personal wallets or overseas exchanges will, in principle, be managed as high-risk transactions, while the FIU is reviewing a direction that would allow limited exceptions only for low-risk cases, such as when the sender and recipient are the same.

The plan also includes a framework to prepare for the institutionalization of stablecoins. The FIU will consider imposing AML obligations on stablecoin issuers comparable to those of financial institutions. For transactions linked to personal wallets or overseas operators, it plans to apply a risk-based management framework.

Internal controls at virtual asset service providers (VASPs) will also be strengthened. AML accountability structures will be clarified and compliance assessments of AML systems will be made mandatory. High-risk operators will be subject to intensive inspections and strict sanctions.

The FIU also plans to enhance its capabilities to detect and analyze suspicious transactions by introducing an AI-based screening and analytics system and crypto-asset analysis tools. The financial authorities will move immediately on tasks that do not require legal revisions, and plan to submit to the National Assembly in the first half of the year items that require amendments to the Specified Financial Transaction Information Act.