Martha Ezeani 
Financial Intelligence Unit of South Korea reported a 50% increase in suspicious transactions on local exchanges in 2022 compared to the previous year.
According to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea, the local virtual asset exchanges reported 49% more suspicious transactions to the FIU in 2022 compared to the previous year.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) published its Work Plan for 2024 on February 14th, revealing important data and strategic objectives for controlling the cryptocurrency industry.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) actively encourages cryptocurrency exchanges to disclose any transactions that raise suspicions of money laundering and unlawful “foreign exchange outflow.” The local cryptocurrency exchanges filed 16,076 cases in 2023, a 49% increase from 10,797 cases in 2022.
In contrast, suspicious transactions, which include crypto assets but are not restricted to them, experienced a modest growth of 10.2%. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reported a 90 percent increase in notifications regarding suspected crypto crimes in 2023 compared to the previous year according to their news release.
In spite of this, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) does not publish any additional information regarding these notifications because of the Specified Financial Information Act. Furthermore, it does not clarify whether these notifications have also originated from cryptocurrency exchanges, as is the case with questions regarding suspicious transactions.
In addition, the enforcement agency has reported a total of one hundred instances of unregistered cryptocurrency loan firms to the National Tax Service and the National Police Agency.
During the months of December 2023 and January 2024, the Federal Investigation Unit (FIU) gathered data on suspicious transactions on an annual basis which allowed them to follow down on all of these cases.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has the intention of “expanding and strengthening” its crypto team this year by providing the appropriate education and training. Furthermore, the organization intends to introduce a “virtual asset analysis system,” which will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the specifics of virtual asset transactions as well as “complex movement paths.”
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) planned to implement a preemptive trading suspension system for suspicious transactions on already functioning platforms in South Korea as reported by The South Korea Times prior to the formal release. This system will freeze transactions even during the primary investigation phase.
The most recent release has confirmed this information.Another South Korea regulatory body, the Financial Services Commission, made the announcement on February 7 that individuals who interact with cryptocurrency offenders who have illegal gains totaling more than $3.8 million might face a sentence of up to life in prison.
