TechFlow News, April 30: According to SBS Biz, South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission has completed on-site inspections of Upbit and Bithumb and is reviewing whether the two exchanges violated regulations by transmitting users’ personal information during their order book sharing with overseas platforms. Results are expected to be announced in the second half of the year.
The core of the dispute concerns whether personally identifiable information was transmitted alongside order books. South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act requires prior user consent for cross-border transfers of personal information; violations may incur sanctions. Upbit currently shares its order book with Upbit APAC and the Tether market, while Bithumb previously shared its order book with the Australian exchange Stellar.
Meanwhile, Bithumb is also engaged in a legal battle with financial authorities over alleged violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Prevention of Money-Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (the “Special Financial Information Act”), and a court ruling on the validity of certain business suspension orders against Bithumb is imminent.
