Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Crypto.com will not launch its app in South Korea for now due to an ongoing anti-money laundering probe.
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The crypto exchange said it maintains the highest AML standard in the industry.
Crypto.com Temporarily Halts its South Korea Launch
Crypto.com, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, revealed on Tuesday that it has postponed its planned launch in South Korea. This latest development comes after a local news outlet reported earlier this week that Crypto.com was facing an “urgent on-site inspection” over money laundering issues.
Per the report, South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission is currently looking into some problems related to anti-money laundering data submitted by Crypto.com. As a result, the regulator has begun on-site inspection of the cryptocurrency exchange.
In a statement to CoinDesk, Crypto.com said,
“Crypto.com maintains the highest Anti-money Laundering (AML) standards in the industry. We will postpone our launch and take this opportunity to make sure Korean regulators understand our thorough policies, procedures, systems and controls, which have been reviewed and approved by major jurisdictions around the world.”
Crypto.com received approvals from South Korean regulators in 2022 and was working towards launching its app for retail users by the end of this month. However, it has now temporarily halted its launch due to the ongoing investigation. A spokesperson for the crypto exchange added that,
“Korea is a difficult market for international exchanges to enter, but we are committed to working with regulators to advance the industry responsibly for Koreans. Crypto.com has not onboarded any new customers in Korea since acquiring OkBit. OkBit maintained approximately 900 customers at the point of acquisition by Crypto.com, and OkBit has never been cited for any AML infractions. Since the acquisition, existing OkBit customer access has been limited to withdrawals.”
The cryptocurrency exchange acquired OkBit and revealed its intentions to launch its retail services in South Korea a few weeks ago.
