Coinone Hit With Fines and Trading Curbs Over AML Violations in South Korea

TheNewsCryptoPublished on 2026-04-14Last updated on 2026-04-14

Abstract

Coinone, South Korea's third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been fined 5.2 billion won ($3.5 million) and issued a three-month partial business suspension by the country's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The penalties are due to multiple anti-money laundering violations, including a failure to verify user identities in approximately 70,000 instances. The FIU also found that Coinone processed over 10,000 transactions with 16 registered offshore exchanges and neglected its customer due diligence responsibilities. This is the second major regulatory action against a South Korean exchange in a month, following similar penalties against Bithumb. The Bank of Korea is now advocating for stricter regulations, including trading limitations to halt activity during abnormal market fluctuations.

According to local local media reports, Coinone, the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, is facing fines and a partial business suspension due to anti-money laundering violations.

Coinone was reportedly held by South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission for noncompliance with anti-money laundering requirements, including the failure to verify user identities in around 70,000 instances, according to Monday’s reports in The Korea Times, Chosun, and Yonhap News.

In addition, the FIU said that, despite several warnings, Coinone enabled over 10,000 transactions with 16 offshore exchanges that were not registered with South Korean authorities.

The company is also accused of neglecting to limit transactions for clients whose verification steps were not completed and of classifying customer verification as complete while critical information was lacking, both of which constitute violations of customer due diligence responsibilities.

Enforcing Stringent Regulations

Following March’s $24 million fine and six-month partial suspension at Bithumb—the country’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume—for alleged anti-money laundering violations, this is the second regulatory action against exchanges in the last month to occur in South Korea.

Following an error by Bithumb, which resulted in the incorrect delivery of 620,000 Bitcoin to consumers (equivalent to around $42 billion at the time) rather than 620,000 Korean won, the Bank of Korea pushed for the adoption of stricter regulations on exchanges.

On Monday, the central bank suggested that legislators introduce measures to halt trading in the case of anomalous behavior or abrupt fluctuations in cryptocurrency values by instituting trading limitations. Until the three-month partial business restriction is removed, new users are unable to deposit or withdraw money from the exchange, and Coinone was fined 5.2 billion won ($3.5 million) by the FIU.

Highlighted Crypto News Today:

Ethereum Price Gains Traction as ETF Flows Shift and Network Activity Surges

TagsAltcoinexchange

Related Questions

QWhat is the main reason Coinone is facing fines and a partial business suspension?

ACoinone is facing fines and a partial business suspension due to anti-money laundering (AML) violations, including the failure to verify user identities in approximately 70,000 instances.

QWhich regulatory body is responsible for holding Coinone accountable for these violations?

ASouth Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission is the regulatory body holding Coinone accountable.

QWhat was one of the specific failures in customer due diligence that Coinone was accused of?

ACoinone was accused of neglecting to limit transactions for clients whose verification steps were not completed and of classifying customer verification as complete while critical information was lacking.

QHow much was the fine imposed on Coinone by the FIU?

AThe FIU fined Coinone 5.2 billion won, which is equivalent to approximately $3.5 million.

QWhat recent regulatory action against another major South Korean exchange preceded this action against Coinone?

AThis action against Coinone follows a $24 million fine and a six-month partial suspension imposed on Bithumb, the country's second-largest crypto exchange, for alleged anti-money laundering violations in March.

Related Reads

List of Most Popular Altcoins by Recent Hourly Searches Published!

Cryptocurrency data platform CoinGecko released a list of the most popular altcoins based on user searches over the last three hours. Pudgy Penguins ($PENGU) leads the trending list, followed by Catecoin (CATE) and Bless ($BLESS) in the top three. According to CoinGecko, $PENGU's price increased by 3.9% in the last 24 hours. CATE, ranked second, surged 126.2% over the same period, while $BLESS saw a 24-hour gain of 86.1%. What IF (IF) also stands out with a 41.9% daily increase. The list of most searched cryptocurrencies and their total market capitalization over the past three hours is as follows: 1. Pudgy Penguins ($PENGU) – $389.13 million 2. Catecoin (CATE) – $19.62 million 3. Bless ($BLESS) – $32.72 million 4. Aerodrome Finance (AERO) – $385.03 million 5. Hyperliquid (HYPE) – $11.43 billion 6. Ethereum (ETH) – $224.17 billion 7. Chainlink (LINK) – $6.17 billion 8. Aave (AAVE) – $1.42 billion 9. What IF (IF) – $31.24 million 10. Polkadot (DOT) – $1.34 billion 11. Bitcoin (BTC) – $1.27 trillion 12. Virtual Protocol (VIRTUAL) – $366.19 million 13. Algorand (ALGO) – $758.15 million 14. Cash Cat (CASHCAT) – $41.81 million 15. Solana (SOL) – $42.38 billion *This is not investment advice.

cryptonews.ru1h ago

List of Most Popular Altcoins by Recent Hourly Searches Published!

cryptonews.ru1h ago

For $100,000 a Month: Truth Social Sells Access to Trump's Posts to Investment Firms

In August 2026, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) launched Truth API, a paid data service offering real-time access to posts from influential Truth Social accounts, including Donald Trump's, for institutional and algorithmic trading firms. Subscriptions reportedly cost up to $100,000 monthly, with discounts for long-term contracts. TMTG's CEO framed it as a strategy to monetize platform assets and create shareholder value. The move drew criticism from lawmakers, including Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff, who called for an SEC investigation, and Republican Bill Cassidy, who criticized the "sale" of privileged access. An AI analysis notes this creates a market risk architecture similar to past incidents where algorithms rapidly traded on unverified social media posts, raising questions about accountability for potential misinformation or manipulation.

cryptonews.ru1h ago

For $100,000 a Month: Truth Social Sells Access to Trump's Posts to Investment Firms

cryptonews.ru1h ago

Strategy leaves preferred STRC dividend at 12% as price still below par

Strategy's preferred STRC shares remain priced significantly below their $100 par value, closing July at $89.46 despite a monthly gain. The company confirmed its August dividend will hold at the recently increased 12% annual rate, paid semi-monthly. Management's stated objective is for the shares to trade at $99-$100, though no timeline was given. The firm reported a large Q2 net loss due to unrealized losses on its Bitcoin holdings but has built a $3.75 billion cash reserve to support preferred dividend payments for over two years. It has also begun repurchasing STRC shares while they trade below par.

cointelegraph3h ago

Strategy leaves preferred STRC dividend at 12% as price still below par

cointelegraph3h ago

Bitcoin Withdrawals Continue: 8 Years of Storage in a Coldcard Cold Wallet Ended in Zero

Coldcard Hardware Wallet Hacked: Losses Mount Due to Vulnerable Seed Generation A critical vulnerability in Coldcard hardware wallets has led to a continued wave of fund thefts. According to Galaxy Research, the total stolen has reached 1,367.05 BTC (approx. $88.6 million) from 4,585 addresses, a significant increase from the initial 594.5 BTC reported on July 30, 2026. Most of the stolen funds remain on the attackers' addresses. The issue is not with the current firmware, which Coinkite has updated, but with seed phrases generated on vulnerable devices between March 2021 and the release of fixed firmware versions. Due to a programmer error, devices switched from using a hardware random number generator to the software-based Yasmarang generator, which was initialized with publicly accessible data like the chip's serial number. This made the seed phrases predictable through offline brute-force attacks, meaning wallets remain at risk until funds are moved to a new wallet generated with the patched firmware. Affected devices include Mk2/Mk3 with firmware 4.0.1–4.1.9 (and up to 5.0.3), Mk4/Mk5 up to version 5.6.0, and Q models up to 1.5.0Q. The only exceptions are seeds created with a high-entropy method like at least 50 independent dice rolls or a strong unique BIP-39 passphrase. All other owners must generate a new seed on the fixed firmware and transfer their assets. A case highlighting the human impact involves a 39-year-old long-term investor who lost 2 BTC (approx. $130,000) in minutes. He had accumulated the Bitcoin over eight years through physical labor, viewing it as a financial lifeline and a retirement plan in a country suffering from hyperinflation. His story underscores that even conservative "buy and hold in cold storage" strategies can be compromised by such underlying technical flaws. From a technical perspective, this incident echoes historical failures where weak random number generators undermined cryptographic security, challenging the assumption that offline storage is automatically foolproof.

cryptonews.ru3h ago

Bitcoin Withdrawals Continue: 8 Years of Storage in a Coldcard Cold Wallet Ended in Zero

cryptonews.ru3h ago

Explosive Growth in Trading Volumes of 15 Altcoins Observed in South Korea!

Major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges Upbit and Bithumb have reported a significant surge in trading volumes for several altcoins. Over the past 24 hours, the total trading volume for the most popular altcoins reached approximately $347.7 million. MetaDAO (META) led the rankings with a trading volume of $65.84 million on Upbit alone, accounting for 12.39% of the exchange's total spot volume. Euler (EUL) followed in second place with a total volume of $47.65 million across both exchanges. XRP, which consistently attracts substantial interest from Korean investors, achieved a total volume of $38.11 million. Other notable altcoins in the top 15 by trading volume include ThunderCore (TT) at $35.64 million, Babylon (BABY) at $25.15 million, and Shiba Inu (SHIB) at $10.55 million.

cryptonews.ru4h ago

Explosive Growth in Trading Volumes of 15 Altcoins Observed in South Korea!

cryptonews.ru4h ago

Trading

Spot
活动图片