South Korean Court Rules in Favor of Bithumb, Overturns Six-Month Suspension

In a recent development, a South Korean court has annulled the six-month partial business suspension of Bithumb, as reported by Yonhap News. The decision was made by Judge Gong Hyeon-jin of the 2nd Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court, who accepted Bithumb's application for a stay of execution on the same day it was filed. However, it remains unclear whether the $24.6 million fine imposed on the exchange has also been suspended. The fine and suspension were initially imposed by South Korea's financial watchdog in March, citing significant violations of local anti-money laundering regulations. Bithumb, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, had filed a request with the court to overturn the suspension and fine imposed by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) after the regulator discovered millions of violations of the country's anti-money laundering rules. The sanctions were based on violations of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, according to the Financial Services Commission. The FIU reported that Bithumb had committed approximately 6.65 million violations, including 3.55 million instances of failing to verify customer identities and 3.04 million cases of failing to block transactions that should have been blocked. While the court's ruling is a positive development for the exchange, it comes amid reports that the Personal Information Protection Commission has launched an investigation into Upbit, Bithumb, and other platforms regarding the sharing of order books with overseas platforms. The case against Bithumb is part of South Korea's increased regulatory oversight of the cryptocurrency market. In 2025, the FIU imposed a three-month partial suspension and a $35.2 billion fine on Dunamu, the operator of the country's largest exchange, Upbit, for compliance gaps. Korbit, a rival platform, faced a smaller penalty of $2.73 billion along with institutional warnings. Established in 2014, Bithumb is currently among the largest exchanges in South Korea by trading volume, according to CoinGecko data. The suspension was lifted two months after Bithumb accidentally distributed billions of dollars worth of bitcoin to users.