The penalty stems from anti-money laundering (AML) violations.
South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has fined crypto exchange Coinone 5.2 billion won, or about $3.5 million, and imposed a three-month partial suspension of its operations.
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The regulator accused the platform of serious AML violations. In particular, Coinone failed to verify users in about 70,000 cases and processed more than 10,000 transactions involving 16 unregistered foreign exchanges.
Coinone has 10 days to appeal the FIU’s decision before the fine and sanctions become final.
What Does this Mean for Users?
The violations affected tens of thousands of the exchange’s customers. In cases where proper verification was not completed, users may have faced withdrawal restrictions, transaction delays, and higher risk exposure.
The regulator said these practices created vulnerabilities for money laundering and terrorist financing.
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Coinone CEO Cha Myung-hoon received an official warning. The exchange is also banned from accepting new customers and from processing deposits and withdrawals for three months.
Regulators Are Tightening the Screws
This is already the second major fine imposed on a South Korean crypto exchange in the past month. In March 2026, Bithumb was fined $24 million and received a six-month partial business suspension for similar violations.
After Bithumb’s error, when the exchange mistakenly sent customers 620,000 BTC▲$63,431.00 instead of 620,000 won, the Bank of Korea called on lawmakers to introduce stricter oversight. The central bank proposed requiring exchanges to implement circuit breakers, which automatically pause trading during sharp price swings, as well as systems that automatically reconcile internal balances with on-chain data.
Officials plan to include these measures in the upcoming Basic Digital Asset Act, which is expected to set tougher rules for the entire industry.
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