South Korea Plans to Strengthen Scrutiny on Transfers to Overseas Cryptocurrency Exchanges, Users May Need to Provide Additional Verification Materials

TechFlow news, August 13, according to News1, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Financial Services Commission stated that the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Specific Financial Information Act regarding strengthening anti-money laundering standards for transactions with overseas virtual asset service providers was passed at the State Council meeting on August 11. According to the revision, domestic exchanges in South Korea will differentially set transaction permission scopes based on counterparty risk levels when conducting transactions with overseas cryptocurrency exchanges and personal wallets.

The amendment proposes that transferring assets to low-risk overseas exchanges may be allowed; for other overseas exchanges or personal wallets, transactions will principally be allowed centering on cases where the sender and receiver are the same person. Meanwhile, when the amount of payments or receipts between overseas exchanges or personal wallets reaches 10 million won or more, domestic exchanges must conduct reviews through their self-established suspicious transaction management systems.

In cases of transfers to high-risk overseas exchanges or where it is difficult to clearly confirm the identity of the transactor, domestic exchanges may require users to further confirm whether it is an account in their own name and explain the purpose of the transfer. If relevant information cannot be confirmed, the transfer may be delayed or rejected. Additionally, it is reported that overseas exchange applications such as Bybit and OKX stopped providing new downloads and automatic updates in the South Korean region of Google Play last month.