Court Halts FIU’s Six-Month Partial Business Suspension of Bithumb

JOON HYOUNG LEE

Summary

The Seoul Administrative Court granted Bithumb’s request to suspend enforcement of its six-month partial business suspension, leaving the sanction on hold until a ruling in the main case.
The FIU said in March that it had imposed a six-month partial business suspension on Bithumb along with a 36.8 billion won ($26.6 million) fine.
The FIU said the sanction stemmed from Bithumb’s alleged violations of obligations under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, including a ban on transactions with unregistered virtual asset service providers.

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A South Korean court has put on hold a financial regulator’s partial business suspension order against cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb.

The Seoul Administrative Court’s Second Administrative Division on April 30 granted Bithumb’s request to suspend enforcement of a six-month partial business suspension imposed by the Financial Intelligence Unit, according to Yonhap News and other local media. The sanction will remain suspended until the court rules on the merits of the case.

The FIU in March imposed a six-month partial business suspension on Bithumb and fined it 36.8 billion won ($26.6 million). The regulator cited violations of obligations under South Korea’s Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, including a ban on transactions with unregistered virtual asset service providers.

The partial business suspension bars new customers from making external virtual-asset deposits and withdrawals. A six-month partial business suspension is the harshest sanction imposed on a domestic virtual-asset exchange in South Korea.