South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has identified at least 500,000 to 600,000 potential KYC violations by the Upbit exchange, local news agency Maeil Business Newspaper (MK) reported on Nov. 14.

The authority reportedly spotted alleged customer verification breaches while reviewing the renewal of Upbit’s business license, potentially affecting the exchange’s operations.

n South Korea, cryptocurrency exchanges or virtual asset service providers (VASPs) are obligated to establish strict KYC procedures.

In January 2018, the South Korean government sought to regulate crypto trading by allowing such trading only from real-name bank accounts. After beefing up the regulations, the FSC introduced a mandatory registration process for all crypto exchanges, ensuring they comply with KYC and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) protocols.

According to the MK report, the FIU identified many cases where Upbit reportedly did not follow KYC procedures.

Source: CoinTelegraph