The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced on Wednesday that the suspension, effective from March 7 to June 6, will bar new customers from transferring virtual assets to or from the platform. Existing users, however, will not be affected.
Regulators had previously issued a preliminary notice to Upbit on Jan. 9 over alleged violations of customer identification rules. At the time, Upbit maintained that the suspension would not impact cryptocurrency trading for either new or existing users, signaling its intention to contest the allegations.
A subsequent investigation, however, uncovered more than 34,000 instances in which the exchange approved customer registrations despite blurry identification documents or photocopied images.
The probe also revealed 226,000 transactions conducted without proper customer verification and 189,000 cases in which driver’s licenses were processed without serial numbers being checked.
Regulators further identified nearly 6,000 cases where address fields were either left blank or filled with incorrect information — critical lapses in security protocols intended to prevent illicit activities such as money laundering and fraud.
Alongside the suspension, the FIU issued a disciplinary warning to Dunamu’s chief executive, Lee Seok-woo, and ordered the dismissal of the company’s compliance officer. Nine other employees also face sanctions for violating financial reporting laws.
The warning against Lee is considered a serious disciplinary measure that typically disqualifies an individual from serving as an executive at financial institutions for three years.
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