South Korean financial authorities have imposed a fine exceeding $24 million USD on Dunamu, the operator of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, marking an escalating regulatory offensive against the local digital asset sector.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced Thursday that Dunamu was fined 35.2 billion South Korean Won (over $24 million USD). This penalty stems from more than 8.6 million violations of anti-money laundering (AML) and user verification regulations.
Over 5.3 million of these infractions involved failures in customer identification (KYC) procedures. These included accepting photocopies or re-photographed identity documents, incomplete or absent addresses, and users bypassing mandatory re-verification cycles.
Another 3.3 million violations were for failing to restrict transactions for unverified users. South Korean law mandates suspending operations until full identification is complete.
The FIU also identified 15 instances where Dunamu failed to report suspicious transactions. These activities showed reasonable indications of money laundering or fraud.
This substantial penalty follows earlier disciplinary actions against Dunamu. These included a partial three-month operational suspension and measures targeting company executives earlier this year.
Dunamu is currently engaged in a legal dispute with the regulator. In March, the company filed an administrative lawsuit to overturn a February suspension. That order was related to operating with unregistered virtual asset providers.
A court temporarily suspended that February order, allowing Upbit to continue partial operations while the legal challenge proceeds.
The FIU warned it would continue rigorous inspections of compliance systems at virtual asset operators. It pledged to apply “strict measures” against any future infringements.
Local analysts suggest this decision could prompt other major South Korean exchanges, such as Bithumb and Coinone, to urgently review their internal verification processes. The move signals a clear tightening of state supervision over the nation’s crypto ecosystem.
The FIU emphasized that its ruling sends a clear message. No company, regardless of its market position, is exempt from compliance with financial laws.
Dunamu has 10 days to submit its comments before the sanction officially takes effect.