South Korean court overturns sanctions against Upbit over unproven violations
n South Korea, a court has overturned a three-month partial business suspension imposed on Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit. The restrictions were linked to alleged violations of anti-money laundering (AML) rules.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled on Tuesday in favor of Dunamu in its dispute with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The court noted that compliance requirements were clearly defined for transactions exceeding 1 million won (about $675). However, for smaller transfers, the rules were not sufficiently specific, which weakened the legal basis for imposing sanctions in this case.
The decision limits the FIU’s ability to impose strict AML sanctions on crypto exchanges when compliance requirements are not clearly defined in practice. It also effectively closes a dispute that began after the sanctions were introduced in February 2025. The measure had later been temporarily suspended while the court reviewed Dunamu’s lawsuit.
What led to the sanctions
The conflict began on Feb. 25, 2025, when the FIU imposed a three-month partial suspension on Dunamu’s operations. The restriction prohibited new Upbit users from transferring digital assets.
The regulator said the measure followed an on-site inspection, which allegedly found that Dunamu had conducted transactions with unregistered foreign virtual asset service providers and failed to fully comply with customer verification requirements.
Previously, the FIU also reported that more than 600,000 suspected violations of Know Your Customer (KYC) rules were identified during the review of Upbit’s license.
In response, Dunamu filed a lawsuit and sought an injunction shortly after the sanctions were announced. On Feb. 28, 2025, the company said it had asked the court to overturn the partial suspension order.
Later, on March 27, 2025, the court granted a temporary suspension of the sanctions, allowing Upbit to continue registering new users while the case was under review.
It is worth noting that Upbit is considering a potential IPO on Nasdaq following a merger with Naver.
Latest Upbit News
-
Afghanistan
-
Albania
-
Algeria
-
Angola
-
Argentina
-
Armenia
-
Australia
-
Austria
-
Azerbaijan
-
Bahamas
-
Bahrain
-
Bangladesh
-
Belarus
-
Belgium
-
Bolivia
-
Botswana
-
Brazil
-
Brunei
-
Bulgaria
-
Cambodia
-
Cameroon
-
Canada
-
Chile
-
China
-
Colombia
-
Congo
-
Costa Rica
-
Cote d'Ivoire
-
Croatia
-
Cuba
-
Cyprus
-
Czechia
-
DR Congo
-
Denmark
-
Dominican Republic
-
Ecuador
-
Egypt
-
El Salvador
-
Estonia
-
Eswatini
-
Ethiopia
-
Finland
-
France
-
Georgia
-
Germany
-
Ghana
-
Greece
-
Haiti
-
Hong Kong
-
Hungary
-
India
-
Indonesia
-
Iran, Islamic republic
-
Iraq
-
Ireland
-
Israel
-
Italy
-
Jamaica
-
Japan
-
Jordan
-
Kazakhstan
-
Kenya
-
Korea
-
Kuwait
-
Kyrgyzstan
-
Laos
-
Latvia
-
Lebanon
-
Lesotho
-
Libya
-
Lithuania
-
Luxembourg
-
Madagascar
-
Malaysia
-
Malta
-
Mauritius
-
Mexico
-
Moldova
-
Mongolia
-
Montenegro
-
Morocco
-
Mozambique
-
Myanmar
-
Namibia
-
Nepal
-
Netherlands
-
New Zealand
-
Nigeria
-
North Macedonia
-
Norway
-
Oman
-
Pakistan
-
Palestine
-
Panama
-
Papua New Guinea
-
Paraguay
-
Peru
-
Philippines
-
Poland
-
Portugal
-
Puerto Rico
-
Qatar
-
Reunion
-
Romania
-
Rwanda
-
Saudi Arabia
-
Serbia
-
Singapore
-
Slovakia
-
Slovenia
-
Somalia
-
South Africa
-
Spain
-
Sri Lanka
-
Sweden
-
Switzerland
-
Syria
-
Taiwan
-
Tajikistan
-
Tanzania
-
Thailand
-
Trinidad and Tobago
-
Tunisia
-
Turkey
-
UAE
-
Uganda
-
Ukraine
-
United Kingdom
-
United States
-
Uruguay
-
Uzbekistan
-
Venezuela
-
Vietnam
-
Yemen
-
Zambia
-
Zimbabwe
- Forex
- Crypto
