Increased regulatory oversight on cryptocurrency trading is driving exchanges to take extreme measures. After Bitfinex and Poloniex, Bithumb is taking additional measures to ensure anti-money laundering (AML) compliance with its country’s laws.
South Korea’s Bithumb, the world’s fifth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is banning the use of its platform across 11 countries, the company announced on Sunday.
The 11 banned countries include
Business Korea elaborated, a local media news channel told,
“With growing concerns over money laundering through cryptocurrency trading, Bithumb, South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, will ban digital asset trading with investors in North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and eight other countries that are considered as high-risk jurisdictions by the Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT) Initiative.”
Apart from fostering transparency, there is need to protect investors from would be fraudsters, as well as market reactions in case of such news breaking out. Bithumb has declared that they will cooperate with the government, as well as adhere to self-regulatory measures, which are in line with the policies introduced by Korean Blockchain Association.
Upbit, the largest cryptocurrency exchange at the time, was also investigated by South Korean authorities earlier this month on charges of fraud, however no formal charges were pressed against it either.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is largely an intergovernmental organization which was set up as an initiative of the G7 to assist in developing guiding principles to fight money laundering. On the other hand, the NCCT are nations that FATF has acknowledged as regions with inadequate policies as well as sets of laws to put a ceiling on money laundering.
In most cases, these countries do not have the regulations to restrict money laundering and the use of various forms of money to finance illegal operations. These countries include Iran, North Korea, Sri Lanka, and Iraq.
Last week, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Korbit had announced that it will no longer support the trading of five cryptocurrencies: dash, monero, zcash, augur, and steem.
Read More: South Korean Crypto Exchange Korbit Delists Zcash, Monero and 3 More Altcoins
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