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

In a significant development, a South Korean court has reversed a six-month partial business suspension against Bithumb, as reported by Yonhap News. The 2nd Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court's Judge Gong Hyeon-jin granted Bithumb's request for a stay of execution on the same day it was filed. However, it remains unclear whether the $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 South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, had requested the court to lift 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 had found that Bithumb 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 properly block transactions. Although the court's ruling is a positive development for Bithumb, it comes amid reports that South Korea's 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 had imposed a three-month partial suspension and a $35.2 million fine on Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, for compliance gaps. Korbit, a rival platform, faced a smaller penalty of $2.73 million along with 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 mistakenly distributed billions of dollars worth of bitcoin to users.