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 2nd Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court's Judge Gong Hyeon-jin granted Bithumb's application for a stay of execution on the 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 massive violations of local anti-money laundering rules. Bithumb, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, had filed a request with the court to lift the suspension and fine. The sanctions were a result of violations of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, according to the Financial Services Commission. The FIU had discovered that Bithumb committed approximately 6.65 million violations, including 3.55 million instances of failure 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 Bithumb, it comes amid reports that the Personal Information Protection Commission has launched an investigation into several platforms, including Upbit and Bithumb, regarding the sharing of order books with overseas platforms. This case is part of the increased regulatory scrutiny of the cryptocurrency market in South Korea. In 2025, the FIU had imposed a three-month partial suspension and a 35.2 billion won fine on Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, for compliance gaps. Another exchange, Korbit, faced a smaller penalty of 2.73 billion won and institutional warnings. Established in 2014, Bithumb is 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.