South Korea Tightens Cryptocurrency Regulations to Combat Money Laundering

South Korea is taking proactive measures to combat money laundering in the cryptocurrency sector by expanding its regulations. As reported by PANews, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eui-kyung announced on November 28th that the ‘travel rule’, also known as the cryptocurrency real-name system, will now apply to transactions below one million Korean won (approximately $680). This expansion was made during the 19th Anti-Money Laundering Day ceremony at the Financial Intelligence Unit. Chairman Lee emphasized a commitment to aggressively targeting money laundering activities involving virtual assets. Furthermore, South Korea will prohibit transactions with overseas exchanges posing a high risk of money laundering and will implement rigorous scrutiny of major shareholders’ criminal history, financial standing, and social credit score in the cryptocurrency industry.