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South Korea's financial watchdog said Thursday it has asked law enforcement authorities to investigate 16 foreign digital asset exchange operators for their unreported business activities.
Those operators subject to investigation include MEXC, KuCoin, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, ZB.com, Bitglobal and CoinW, according to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an agency tasked with tracking unlawful financial activities under the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
They are accused of operating Korean-language webpages, carrying out promotion campaigns and providing support for customers to buy digital assets with their credit cards without reporting to authorities, the FIU said.
In July last year, the FIU asked all offshore digital asset operators to report their plans to launch businesses here as stipulated by a relevant law, but the 16 operators have not complied with the request, it added.
Their violations will be informed to financial watchdogs in countries where those operators are based, it added.
Those involved in such unreported operations in South Korea could face up to five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won ($38,000) or smaller. They will also be restricted from doing business here for the time being. (Yonhap)
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