South Korea’s financial watchdog to monitor crypto whales on adherence to anti-money laundering laws
South Korea’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), has raised concerns about the high risks associated with money laundering of single-asset virtual assets and stablecoins, after the country’s largest cryptocurrency holder monitor. according to to local media coverage.
The decision is made to bring virtual asset managers, companies and individuals holding $70,000 worth of digital assets under the jurisdiction of the Financial Intelligence Unit, a division of the FSC.
Other types of virtual asset owners subject to FSC oversight include e-finance companies, online investment-related finance companies, and loan companies.
In addition, customers who deposit large amounts of digital assets will be monitored and evaluated to see if their transactions may violate anti-money laundering laws.
FSC argues that it should monitor the size and fluctuations of such assets based on the number of crypto-assets held by each customer multiplied by the closing price of the crypto-assets at the end of the quarter.
This decision was made as a result of a report obtained by news1 KR titled ‘Development of Risk Metrics, Study of Improvements and Applications for New Business Areas’. The report forms his FSC stance on regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges and holders. This report was created to develop metrics for new businesses requiring a money laundering assessment. FSC he received the final report in the form of a survey service report in June.
The FSC believes that the higher the proportion of single-listed crypto-assets and stablecoins on crypto-asset exchanges, the greater the risk of them being used as a means of money laundering and crime.
FSC’s announcement is in line with comments made by Chairman Kim Joo-hyung, who attended the general audit of the Political Affairs Committee on October 24. He said he will explore the feasibility of creating and imposing standardized trading plans for different coin transfer limits for each crypto exchange. He added that it would also consider whether standardized bills other than anti-money laundering could be created.
