FIU Approves Registration of 29 Virtual Asset Service Providers Including 4 Won Markets and 20 Coin Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission announced that, as of September, a total of 29 virtual asset service providers (VASPs) out of 42 applicants who submitted registration reports have passed the review, including 24 trading platforms and 5 custodians.

The FIU conducted reviews on 42 VASPs that submitted registration reports by September 24. The types of applicants included 29 trading platforms and 13 wallet service and custodian providers. Based on the first-round review results from the Financial Supervisory Service, the Registration Review Committee, composed of experts from various fields such as economics, law, and IT, completed nine rounds of evaluations.

As a result, 29 companies passed the review, including 24 trading platforms and 5 custodians. Among the 24 trading platforms, the four major exchanges operating Korean won markets?Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit?passed the review. For coin market operators, 20 companies including Gidac, Flybit, Gopax, Bidulgi Wallet, Probit, and Foblgate passed the review. Other operators include five companies such as KODA and KDAC. Meanwhile, five companies were deferred, and eight companies withdrew their registration.

Specifically, among the 29 trading platforms, 24 passed the review. Of the five trading platforms that failed the review, three voluntarily withdrew their registration due to lack of preparation. These withdrawn companies must cease all operations and support customer asset withdrawals starting from the 24th. Two companies were judged to have insufficient anti-money laundering (AML) systems and were given a one-month supplementation period before undergoing re-examination.

Among the 13 custodians, five passed the review. Of the remaining eight custodians, four withdrew their registration due to lack of preparation, and one withdrew because it was not subject to registration. If a company only provides programs for storing or managing private keys without having independent control authority, it is not subject to registration as a virtual asset service provider under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information. Three companies will undergo re-examination after a one-month AML supplementation and issue review period.

Companies deferred in this review were granted a one-month grace period and will undergo re-examination by the end of January next year. If they fail the re-examination, it will be difficult for them to be approved as registered operators. The FIU stated, "For companies subject to re-examination, we have instructed them to suspend new user registrations during the grace period and to restrict transactions exceeding 1 million KRW per transaction for existing users as part of AML supervision."

Starting next year, the FIU plans to establish transparent trading order in the virtual asset market through on-site inspections and continuous supervision of registered operators. Additionally, it will conduct surveys on the business status of registered operators to provide a foundation for the stable introduction of various policies and systems related to virtual assets in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.