South Korean financial regulators have imposed sanctions on several cryptocurrency exchanges.

According to Odaily, the Financial Information Analysis Institute (FIU) of Korea is expected to impose sanctions on several domestic virtual asset exchanges for violating anti-money laundering obligations. The financial authorities plan to impose institutional and personnel sanctions and fines on the exchanges based on the order of on-site inspections, following a "first-in, first-out" principle.

Following its sanctions against Dunamu, the FIU plans to impose sanctions on the remaining virtual asset exchanges. Previously, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) had conducted on-site inspections of Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX since last year to examine their compliance with anti-money laundering obligations, including violations of Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures.

The sanctions will be issued in the order of on-site inspections: Dunamu (last August), Korbit (October), GOPAX (December), Bithumb (this March), and Coinone (April). However, given that Bithumb recently underwent an additional on-site inspection due to order book issues, its sanctions order may be delayed.

The sanctions process will be similar to that of Dunamu, first identifying individuals and institutions to be sanctioned, and then imposing fines. Previously, in February of this year, the FIU, under the Specific Financial Information Act, issued a "warning of accountability" to Dunamu's CEO and imposed a heavy penalty on the institution, suspending new customer deposits and withdrawals for three months; and on the 6th, imposed a fine of 35.2 billion won.

The market anticipates that, given the similar nature of the violations committed by other exchanges (such as KYC breaches and failure to report suspicious transactions), the sanctions against Dunamu will be similar in severity, with heavy penalties likely to be imposed, potentially reaching tens of billions of Korean won. It is expected that the FIU's sanctions against the remaining four exchanges may not be completed this year, with most sanctions anticipated to conclude in the first half of next year.