Financial Authorities Seek Investigations Into Three Illegal Virtual Asset Providers, Request Access Blocks for Two

Access blocking requested for two providers, including TetherMax and SuperTrust

Financial authorities notified investigative agencies of three unregistered virtual asset service providers and requested that access to two of them be blocked in Korea. This brings the total number of service providers reported by financial authorities to investigative agencies to 47.

The Financial Services Commission's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said on October 30 that it had notified investigative agencies of three unregistered virtual asset service providers—TetherMax, SuperTrust, and Aegis Ventures—identified by the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA).

The FIU also requested that the Broadcasting Media and Communications Review Commission block access in Korea to the websites and mobile apps of TetherMax and SuperTrust. Aegis Ventures was excluded from the blocking request because it had no website or app used for its unregistered business operations.

An FIU official said, "These measures are intended to strengthen the response to illegal virtual asset service providers operating in Korea and restrict domestic users' access to illegal business websites." Whether access will be blocked will be decided following deliberation by the Broadcasting Media and Communications Review Commission.

Under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, anyone operating a virtual asset business in Korea without registering may face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won. The same regulations apply to overseas providers that conduct business targeting users in Korea.

The FIU noted that trading through unregistered illegal virtual asset service providers could be exploited for money laundering. It also said users may have difficulty obtaining redress if they suffer financial losses from hacking or investment fraud due to inadequate security and user-protection safeguards. A joint investigation conducted in June by DAXA and registered service providers found that the average transaction fees charged by the identified providers ranged from 1.5% to 10%—up to 62 times the average rate of 0.16% charged by Korea's five largest won-based exchanges.

The FIU plans to step up efforts to identify illegal providers and block replacement websites. An FIU official said, "We plan to actively pursue measures necessary to protect users, including promptly requesting deliberations on newly identified providers and replacement websites and notifying investigative agencies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.