South Korea’s Financial Watchdog Warns Foreign Exchanges Must Register in 2 Months

Foreign crypto exchanges that have customers in South Korea must register with the country’s financial watchdog in the next two months or face blocked access and possible criminal inquiries.

• The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KFIU) is pushing for exchanges to register in line with the country's new anti-money laundering laws, according to a report by Yonhap News on Thursday,
• An updated Financial Transactions Reports Act requires all crypto exchanges to register with the country’s regulators by Sept. 24 and obtain a certificate on information security.
• Yonhap cites officials of the Financial Services Commission who said that no foreign crypto exchanges had obtained a certificate so far, echoing previous statements from its chair in April.
• South Korea has been pushing for tougher legislation against virtual asset service providers, including exchanges.
• The country doesn't recognize crypto as legal assets, even though it plans to start collecting tax generated by crypto revenue next year.