The largest South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb decided to prohibit the sale on its platform, users from 11 countries. Among the banned countries: Iran, Iraq, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu and North Korea.
Starting may 28, a resident of the listed in the statement of the exchange, States will not be able to open accounts and existing ones will be closed until June 21. Bithumb explained his decision to participation in “the global effort to combat money laundering”.
All banned Bithumb countries included in the “blacklist” Group of development of financial measures of struggle against money-laundering (FATF), called “non-cooperating countries and territories” (NCCT).
“Users of the NCCT will be allowed to use the exchange to bitcoin is used to Finance international terrorism,” the statement said the Korean company.
The FATF was established in 1989 by the decision of the countries “the Big seven” with the aim of developing international standards in the field of anti-money laundering (AML) and financing of terrorism. Currently, the international Institute brings together 35 countries and 2 international organizations. In January, Korea became the first country of the 37 members who submitted the FATF guidelines for cryptocurrency trading.
Recall that in mid-December, South Korean authorities took emergency measures regulation of the cryptocurrency market. In January the government had announced the idea of a ban cryptocurrency trading. Authorities later denied the possibility of a total ban, but continued to tighten requirements to the participants of the stock market, particularly in relation to AML rules.
January 30 in the country were banned anonymous cryptocurrency trading — the regulator ordered capturadora to use a Bank account tied to their real names. In March, the financial intelligence Unit South Korea (KoFIU) and the financial Supervisory Service (FSS) began a re-examination of the largest banks in the country comply with AML to transactions associated with cryptocurrencies.
“We will strictly abide by our own rules, to protect our investors and to actively cooperate with the authorities”, — said in his statement Bithumb.
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