Seoul’s Administrative Court has stayed a six‑month partial suspension against Bithumb, halting Korea FIU’s harshest crypto penalty while the exchange fights it in court.
Summary
- The Seoul Administrative Court has granted Bithumb a stay of execution on a six‑month partial business suspension imposed by South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
- The FIU had fined Bithumb roughly ₩36.8 billion (about $24.6 million) and ordered limits on new customers’ external crypto transfers over alleged violations of the Specific Financial Information Act.
- The stay allows Bithumb to continue normal operations while it fights the sanctions in court, setting up a key test of how far Korean regulators can go in policing crypto exchanges.
South Korea’s Seoul Administrative Court has sided with Bithumb, temporarily blocking the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit from enforcing a six‑month partial business suspension order against the exchange.
Seoul court pauses FIU’s harshest-ever crypto penalty
According to a summary of the ruling carried by Yonhap and cited in multiple market reports, the court’s Second Administrative Division accepted Bithumb’s application for a stay of execution, meaning the FIU’s penalty is on hold until judges issue a final verdict in the main lawsuit.
The FIU had announced in March that it would fine Bithumb ₩36.8 billion—roughly $24.6 million—and partially suspend its business after finding 6.65 million alleged breaches of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, better known as the Specific Financial Information Act.
6.65 million alleged violations and an “unregistered” partner
Regulators accused Bithumb of supporting 45,772 virtual asset transfers with 18 unregistered overseas virtual asset service providers (VASPs), despite repeated requests from the FIU to cut off such flows.
Authorities said that pattern, combined with what they described as deficient Know Your Customer and due‑diligence checks, amounted to 6.65 million violations of reporting and monitoring obligations under the Special Financial Act.
A prior notice from the FIU, summarized by the AML Network, framed the case as part of a broader crackdown on exchanges that continue dealing with overseas VASPs “not registered in South Korea,” citing concerns around money laundering and illicit flows.
The partial business suspension was crafted to block new customers from depositing or withdrawing external virtual assets—a design that industry commentators noted would have effectively frozen Bithumb’s growth, even if existing users could still trade.
What the stay means for Bithumb and Korean crypto
Bithumb responded by filing an administrative lawsuit seeking to cancel the FIU order and, in parallel, requested an injunction to halt the sanctions before they took effect on March 27.
Coverage from outlets such as Seoul Economic Daily and Chosun notes that the court agreed to temporarily suspend the FIU decision to prevent “irreparable harm,” allowing Bithumb to keep onboarding new users and processing external crypto transfers while the case proceeds.
A separate write‑up from CryptoRank underscores that this is one of the toughest penalties ever levied against a Korean won‑based exchange, and that the stay does not cancel the sanction outright; it only pauses enforcement until the main lawsuit is resolved.
For the wider market, the case is being watched as a bellwether for how much power the FIU and Financial Services Commission will ultimately wield over registered exchanges.
Earlier reports on the FIU’s preliminary notice and fine, including a summary from TechFlow, stressed that regulators see Bithumb’s alleged AML failures as systemic, and that similar audits are underway at other major trading platforms.
If Bithumb ultimately prevails, it could embolden other exchanges to challenge sanctions they view as disproportionate, reshaping the balance between enforcement and judicial oversight in one of Asia’s most tightly regulated crypto markets.
