The South Korean Financial Intelligence Unit will convene a sanctions review meeting regarding Bithumb, with the potential sanction level possibly higher than that of Upbit.

Techub News reported, according to News1, that South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) plans to convene a Sanctions Deliberation Committee meeting on the 16th to review the sanction level for Bithumb. At this meeting, Bithumb will continue to provide explanations regarding the violations. The Financial Intelligence Unit will make the final decision on the sanction level based on its explanations.

Previously, the FIU had notified Bithumb of sanctions, including a six-month partial business suspension and a disciplinary warning for its CEO, due to its violation of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) obligations stipulated by the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information. This is more severe than the penalty imposed on Upbit, which previously received a three-month partial business suspension. It is also reported that the volume of virtual asset transactions Bithumb conducted with undeclared overseas exchanges was higher than that of Upbit. Upbit, which conducted 44,948 transactions with undeclared exchanges, was fined 35.2 billion won and received a three-month partial business suspension; whereas Korbit, with only 19 transactions, was fined only 2.7 billion won and received an institutional warning. Therefore, there are predictions that Bithumb's fine could reach around 37 billion won, exceeding that of Upbit.