South Korean Court Lifts Six-Month Suspension on Bithumb

A recent ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court has overturned a six-month partial business suspension imposed on Bithumb, a major cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea. According to reports from Yonhap News, the court's decision was made after Bithumb filed an application for a stay of execution, which was accepted by Judge Gong Hyeon-jin of the 2nd Administrative Division. However, it remains unclear whether the $24.6 million fine imposed by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has also been suspended. The fine and suspension were initially imposed in March due to alleged massive violations of local anti-money laundering rules. Bithumb had filed a request with the court to lift the suspension and fine, which were imposed after the regulator discovered millions of violations of the country's anti-money laundering rules. The exchange had committed approximately 6.65 million violations, including failures to carry out required customer identity verification and failing to block transactions that should have been blocked. While the court ruling is a positive development for Bithumb, it comes amid reports that South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission has launched a probe into several platforms, including Bithumb and Upbit, regarding the sharing of order books with overseas platforms. The case against Bithumb is part of South Korea's increased oversight of the cryptocurrency market, with other exchanges, such as Upbit and Korbit, also facing penalties and warnings for compliance gaps. 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 mistakenly distributed billions of dollars worth of bitcoin to users.