The exchange has asked all users who may be affected to withdraw their funds.
The leading Korean crypto exchange platform, Bithumb, has informed its community of non-Korean users that they will be denied access to the platform unless they complete a mobile-based identity verification process.
According to the local media Pulse News, Bithumb is taking this step to comply with the new strict Korean anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
The “Know Your Customer” (KYC) notice applies to all foreign users based in Korea and registered on the Bithumb exchange.
According to Pulse, the new KYC requirement is expected to come into effect later in the year. However, the exchange has not communicated exactly when it intends to start enforcing the ban.
Bithumb’s drastic action follows the introduction of stricter anti-money laundering requirements by the Korean authorities. It also follows the notification by the exchange to users that there would be no registration of foreigners without appropriate documentation.
The Korea Herald note in a development article that Bithumb recently limited accounts with IP addresses from “high-risk jurisdictions “. The news site also reports that the cryptocurrency exchange’s actions are aimed at user accounts created from countries considered to warrant close oversight by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The exchange nevertheless asked users of the targeted group to start withdrawing their assets if they are having trouble performing KYC verification. According to Bithumb, affected users are free to move their digital assets at any time before the country’s mandatory requirements take effect a little later in the year.
Bithumb recently teamed up with Coinone and Korbit, two other major Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange companies, to launch an initiative to implement a “traffic rule” for the FATF.
This initiative, announced on 31 August, will allow the three exchange platforms to make individual and joint efforts to comply with anti-money laundering requirements.
