Bitfront To End Korean Services As New Regulations Deadline Approaches
Crypto exchange Bitfront said it will discontinue services in South Korea as the new stricter rules for the industry are enforced in September. The exchange, a US-based subsidiary of Japanese tech giant Line, is currently available to Korean traders.
Line’s Bitfront Exchange Stopping Services In Korea
Amid new, tighter regulations on the horizon, digital asset exchange Bitfront is reportedly planning to pull out of South Korea’s cryptocurrency market, among others. The US-registered exchange, which was established by the Japanese messaging app company Line, is going to limit its services in the country next month, Korean media reported.
The exchange will stop providing Korean-language service in mid-September. “Citing the tougher regulations, Bitfront also said it will discontinue payments with Korean credit cards on Sept. 14,” the news agency detailed in a report on foreign crypto exchanges “seeking distance” from South Korea ahead of the upcoming changes.
Bitfront will discontinue its Korean-language marketing activities via social media channels like “Facebook, Telegram and Line for its Korean clients this month,” the Korea Economy Daily added. At the time of writing, Bitfront’s website is still available in Korean.
New Regulations Force Unregulated Crypto Exchanges To Leave South Korea
The stricter rules, introduced with the revised Special Funds Act which took effect on March 25, will be enforced in September after a six-month grace period. They require crypto trading platforms to register with Korea’s anti-money laundering body, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), by Sept. 24 and cooperate with domestic banks on the issuance of real-name accounts. Failure to comply could lead to blocked access, penalties, and even criminal prosecution.
The regulation is a big step backwards in innovation, as working with banks especially the traditional ones, can be a troublesome effort for those, who plan to continue servicing the market.
In July, the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) warned eleven exchanges targeting Korean nationals. Smaller and foreign-based exchanges have found it difficult to secure a partnership with a local banking institution as Korean banks fear exposure to money laundering, fraud, and other crypto-related risks. Starting from Sept. 25, exchanges will be banned from withdrawing money for cryptocurrency trading if they have not implemented real-name bank accounts, Yonhap noted.
Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, said last week it’s ending the offering of a number of products and services in South Korea. This decision, announced on Friday, involves the discontinuing of trading pairs and payment options in Korean won as well as peer-to-peer (P2P) merchant applications and Korean language support. On Wednesday, another overseas digital asset exchange, FTX Trading, removed Korean from the language options available on its website.
