Dunama, the operator of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, said it may appeal a 35.2 billion-won ($25 million) fine and other sanctions imposed on Upbit by the intelligence unit of South Korea’s financial watchdog.
In addition to the fine, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) imposed a three-month suspension on new customer onboarding and issued warnings to executives as it clamps down on anti-money laundering (AML) violations and know-your-customer (KYC) violations, local news service Newsis reported on Monday.
“We are conducting a careful internal review, including an assessment of the accuracy of the sanction’s findings,” a Dunamu spokesperson told Coindesk via email. The unit has been wrong in the past, the spokesperson said.
“The FIU imposed a 2 billion-won fine on Hanbitco for KYC shortcomings involving roughly 200 users, which a Seoul court subsequently overturned, concluding the violations did not lead to money-laundering,” the spokesperson said.
The local financial authority said the campaign is part of a broader initiative to strengthen anti-money laundering enforcement within the country’s digital asset sector. It explained that inspections have largely focused on KYC compliance and reporting of suspicious financial transactions.
“During on-site anti-money laundering inspections conducted on Dunamu”, the FIU discovered approximately “5.3 million cases of violations regarding customer verification obligations,” it said earlier this month. It also said Dunamu failed to report suspicious transactions on 15 cases.
“Dunamu (Upbit Korea) has reinforced its investor protection measures and will work even harder to prevent a recurrence,” the company spokesperson said.” We remain committed to providing a safe trading environment for all customers.”
The news of inspections come as the Financial Services Commission orders exchanges to suspend new crypto lending products until formal guidelines are implemented, citing growing risks to users. The FIU is an agency of the FSC.
“Going forward, the FIU will continue to inspect and review the legal compliance systems of virtual asset operators to establish a robust anti-money laundering system,” the agency said.
In a separate statement, the FIU reported inspections on four other crypto exchanges, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and GOPAX, to assess AML and other regulatory compliances and found they were also in violation of several rules and regulations. None of the exchanges responded to a CoinDesk request for comment.
The Korean financial regulatory campaign is conducting its campaign in a “first-in, first-out” sequence, with each exchange inspected in the order they were reviewed. Dunamu was the initial target after an August 2024 assessment, followed by Korbit (October 2024), GOPAX (December 2024), Bithumb (March 2025), and Coinone (April 2025).
According to Coingecko data, six crypto exchanges operate in South Korea, including Upbit – which is in the process of merging with Naver and said to be considering an IPO on Nasdaq — Bithumb, Korbit, INEX, Oneone and GoPax, with a combined trading volume in the last 24 hours of approximately $2.6 billion.
