Supervision of Cryptocurrency Exchanges

South Korea’s financial authority has decided to maintain the highest level of sanctions on North Korea which does not comply with the international standards set by the FATF as it is now.
South Korea’s financial authority has decided to maintain the highest level of sanctions on North Korea which does not comply with the international standards set by the FATF as it is now.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will tighten the supervision standards on cryptocurrency exchanges. It has decided to maintain the highest level of sanctions on North Korea which does not comply with the international standards set by the FATF as it is now.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said on Feb. 25 that these measures were discussed at the second general meeting of the 30th FATF conference which recently took place in France. The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. South Korea joined the body in 2009 and there are currently 36 member states. Kim Geun-ik, director of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KFIU), represented South Korea in the general meeting.

At the general meeting, the FATF urged the financial authorities of the member states to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in the same manner they regulate commercial banks in order to prevent cryptocurrencies from being misused for illegal transactions. Under the new standards, exchanges will collect information about remitters and receivers when cryptocurrencies are wired and financial authorities will impose sanctions on exchanges when they do not perform related requirement.

The FATF is planning to maintain the highest level of sanctions on North Korea. Accordingly, transactions with financial firms in North Korea will be continuously suspended and the establishment of overseas offices is banned again this year.

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