South Korea Will Prevent Illegal Activities in the Crypto Industry

Cryptocurrency in South Korea. (Photo; Doc. Bitcoinist)

JAKARTA - In an effort to fight illegal activities in the digital currency market, the South Korean authorities have confirmed their commitment to strengthen virtual asset service provider (VASP) compliance efforts.

Although adequate legislation is still under debate, the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit of the FSC, a government agency with a role in fighting financial crime, convened a meeting to discuss strategies for strengthening VASP compliance.

The head of the intelligence unit, Lee Yoon-soo, highlighted the urgent need to establish market order and protect investors amid the growth of the virtual asset market domestically and internationally over the past few years.

"The role of virtual asset operators is very important as the main gateway to prevent illegal activities," he emphasized. To that end, Lee Yoon-soo stated their plan to support the improvement of operators' autonomous compliance capabilities by strengthening the legal compliance incentive system and increasing the predictability of the law and the system.

The meeting also opened the veil of innovation carried out by several well-known VASP platforms. Upbit has succeeded in creating an artificial intelligence (AI) based abnormal transaction detection system. On the other hand, Bithumb developed a feature that automatically terminates the exchange application if a remote control application is detected, and can detect money laundering transactions.

Coinone improves the management and monitoring of 'risk wallet addresses' associated with potential financial mishaps. While Korbit introduces a real-time management system for each stage of Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR) and a secondary review system.

Not to forget, Gopax also contributes by creating a responsive hotline that allows fast handling when requests for account freezing related to crimes such as voice phishing are received.

The meeting participants agreed to continue to strengthen their dialogue and cooperation in enhancing compliance capabilities in the virtual asset market. They are committed to holding regular meetings every 2-3 months to ensure compliance measures are running well.

With these proactive steps, it is hoped that the digital currency market in South Korea can grow further with guaranteed security and protection for investors. The more advanced technology and cross-platform collaboration, the more integrity of the virtual asset market is maintained for all stakeholders.