Seoul Court Stays Bithumb Business Suspension

A Seoul court granted cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb a stay of execution on Thursday, temporarily halting a six-month partial business suspension imposed by South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit for antimoney laundering violations.

The Seoul Administrative Court's 2nd Administrative Division, presided over by Judge Gong Hyeonjin, approved Bithumb's request, allowing the exchange to continue normal operations, including external cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals for new customers, pending a final ruling. The suspension, announced in March, stemmed from approximately 6.65 million violations of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information. These included 3.55 million failures to verify customer identities and 3.04 million instances where the exchange did not block transactions involving unregistered virtual asset operators.

The FIU, an antimoney laundering body under the Financial Services Commission, also fined Bithumb 36.8 billion won, equivalent to about $25 million. Bithumb filed an administrative lawsuit and stay request on March 23, preventing the suspension from taking effect as originally scheduled on March 27. The exchange has not...