Korea FIU orders blocking of domestic access to two unregistered virtual asset service providers; DAXA refers three involved entities for investigation

On October 30, according to Yonhap News Agency, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) requested the Korea Communications Standards Committee to block domestic access to two unregistered virtual asset service providers, including terminating their services. That same day, the Digital Asset Exchange Association (DAXA) referred three organizations—Aegis Ventures, TetherMax, and SuperTrust—for investigation on suspicion of violating the Specific Financial Information Act and operating a virtual asset business without registration. The FIU specifically requested blocking access to TetherMax and SuperTrust. Aegis Ventures, which has no independent website or mobile application, was excluded from the blocking request.

Under current law, operating a virtual asset business without registration faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million Korean won. This law also applies to overseas operators targeting South Korean residents. The FIU stated that unregistered operators operate in a regulatory blind spot and could be used for money laundering. In June this year, a joint task force by DAXA and compliant operators found that the average transaction fees of the raided entities ranged from 1.5% to 10%, with the highest rate being approximately 62 times the average of South Korea's top five KRW exchanges (0.16%).