South Korean Court Overturns Bithumb's Six-Month Suspension

In a recent development, a South Korean court has revoked the six-month partial business suspension of Bithumb, as reported by Yonhap News. The Seoul Administrative Court's Judge Gong Hyeon-jin granted Bithumb's application for a stay of execution on the same day it was filed. However, it remains unclear whether the 36.8 billion won ($24.6 million) fine imposed by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in March has also been suspended. The fine and suspension were imposed due to alleged significant violations of local anti-money laundering regulations. Bithumb, one of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, had requested the court to overturn the suspension and fine imposed by the 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 found 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. Although the court ruling is a positive development for the exchange, it comes amidst 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 Korean regulators' increased scrutiny of the cryptocurrency market. In 2025, the FIU imposed a three-month partial suspension and a 35.2 billion won 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 won along with institutional warnings. Established in 2014, Bithumb is currently one of the largest exchanges in South Korea by trading volume, according to CoinGecko data. The lifting of the suspension comes two months after Bithumb accidentally distributed billions of dollars worth of bitcoin to users.