A newly unearthed report from South Korea’s financial watchdogs has revealed the rationale behind the country’s 2018 crypto crackdown that played a featured role in ‘Crypto Winter’. Digital Today dug up the “2017 Anti-Money Laundering Annual Report” which showed the Financial Intelligence Unit had identified more than half a million crypto transactions in South Korea in 2017 related to illegal activities. The 519,908 crypto transactions were flagged by authorities as “suspicious” and the upswing in money laundering fuelled the national government’s decision to carry out a partial crypto crackdown in 2018. The report took several years to be made public, …
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) published new initial coin offering (ICO) and cryptocurrency guidelines on its official website on May 30. The regulator detailed the prerequisites that a cryptocurrency business needs to follow in order to comply with both the Australian Corporations and ASIC Acts, but did not cover regulations enforced by other national institutions. Notably, the guideline specified that if a crypto asset is a financial product, then the issuer and firms dealing with it are required to hold an Australian financial services license. The report also notes that miners will be considered part of the clearing …
The Republic of Lithuania’s Ministry of Finance plans to release legal amendments for operating crypto-related businesses in the country, Riga-based newspaper The Baltic Times reports on April 8. According to the report, the Lithuanian finance ministry wants to bring more legal certainty to the operation of companies relating to cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto wallet operators, as well as initial coin offerings (ICOs). By enforcing legal requirements in the industry, the authority reportedly seeks to ensure an efficient policy against money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as to guarantee a due level of consumer protection, the articles writes. The new amendments …
Huobi Korea, the South Korean branch of the world’s sixth largest crypto exchange, has recently strengthened its anti-money laundering (AML) protections, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 21. According to the statement, Huobi Korea, which launched its services in 2018, has reviewed its deposit and withdrawal processes and fiat-to-crypto oversight. The company will closely monitor any transactions that might seem suspicious, the press release notes. In addition to that, Huobi Korea says it will regularly update its fraud detection system algorithms. Moreover, the exchange is set to launch an inter-exchange hotline in order to prevent identity …
South Korean watchdog the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has urged lawmakers to hasten their approval of the country’s first cryptocurrency bill, Bloomberg reports July 26. Hong Seong-ki, head of the FSC’s virtual currency response team, has reportedly warned of the security and money laundering risks courted by the country’s domestic crypto exchanges. Bloomberg cites Seong-ki as saying that: “While crypto markets have seen rapid growth, such trading platforms don’t seem to be well-enough prepared in terms of security. We’re trying to legislate the most urgent and important things first, aiming for money-laundering prevention [AML] and investor protection. The bill should …