The Number of suspicious crypto Transactions in South Korea Increased by 49% in 2023
Last year, 16,076 crypto transactions suspected of involvement in illegal activities were registered
South Korean authorities received 48.8% more reports of suspicious transactions from cryptocurrency service providers in 2023 than in 2022, according to a report by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). So, last year, 16,076 cryptotransactions were registered in the country, suspected of involvement in activities such as money laundering, market manipulation or illegal drug trafficking.
The FIU stressed that in 2023, the number of cases of crypto crimes referred by the department to law enforcement agencies for investigation increased by 90% compared to last year.
FIU is going to create a new system that will immediately block suspicious transactions with virtual assets before the investigation by local prosecutors begins. The report says that the agency intends to complete preliminary studies on the implementation of this program in March 2024.
Earlier this month, the FIU proposed to tighten regulation of digital asset exchanges, in particular, to introduce FATF rules to block suspicious crypto transactions during pre-trial investigations.
