South Korean authorities have reportedly flagged a report variety of suspicious crypto transactions this yr, with the whole already surpassing the mixed numbers of the previous two years.
Citing Monetary Intelligence Unit (FIU) information supplied to Consultant Jin Sung-joon and the Korea Customs Service (KCS) statistics, Yonhap Information reported that native digital asset service suppliers (VASPs) filed 36,684 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) between January and August 2025.
STRs are considered one of South Korea’s core Anti-Cash Laundering (AML) instruments. Beneath the nation’s legal guidelines, monetary establishments, casinos and VASPs should file STRs once they have cheap grounds to suspect that the funds contain prison proceeds, cash laundering or terrorist financing.
In response to the information, the STRs filed between January and August exceed the mixed totals of 2023 and 2024, when STRs have been 16,076 and 19,658, respectively. This yr’s quantity additionally dwarfs 2021, which had 199 instances, and 2022, which had 10,797.
Authorities eye unlawful overseas remittances and stablecoins
South Korean officers mentioned a majority of the flagged transaction flows concerned “hwanchigi,” or unlawful overseas alternate remittances. In these instances, prison proceeds are transformed into crypto utilizing offshore platforms. These are routed into home exchanges after which cashed out in received.
From 2021 via August 2025, the KCS referred $7.1 billion price of crypto-linked crimes to prosecutors, with $6.4 billion (about 90%) tied to hwanchigi schemes.
In Could, customs officers uncovered an underground dealer accused of utilizing the Tether (USDT) stablecoin to illegally move about $42 million between South Korea and Russia. Two Russian nationals have been accused of finishing up over 6,000 unlawful transactions between January 2023 and July 2024.
Due to instances like these, Jin urged companies, together with the KCS and the FIU, to strengthen efficient enforcement to trace prison funds and block disguised remittances.
The official mentioned the federal government companies should set up systematic countermeasures in opposition to new varieties of overseas alternate crimes.
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A world coverage concern
South Korea’s numbers present a broader coverage dilemma dealing with regulators across the globe. Whereas stablecoins and digital currencies supply sooner and cheaper funds, additionally they create new channels for illicit flows.
The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation addresses illicit cross-border transaction dangers by requiring issuers to be licensed to make sure transparency.
It additionally caps massive stablecoin volumes. MiCA limits stablecoin transfers to 1 million transactions per day or a notional worth of 200 million euros per day.
In 2021, the European Central Financial institution’s policymakers floated the idea of limiting digital euro holdings to three,000 euros per individual to forestall unchecked overseas alternate exercise.
In 2023, the Financial institution of England proposed setting particular person caps on digital kilos between 10,000 ($13,558) and 20,000 British kilos. Nevertheless, UK crypto teams slammed the approach, saying these limits don’t work in apply.
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