South Korean regulators have seen a rise in flagged cryptocurrency transactions in 2025, in line with a report by Yonhap Information.
In line with information from the Monetary Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Korea Customs Service (KCS), 36,684 suspicious transaction reviews (STRs) had been submitted by native crypto-related companies between January and August.
These reviews are required when monetary establishments, playing institutions, or crypto service platforms detect potential hyperlinks to unlawful cash sources or funding for illegal actions.
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In 2023, there have been 16,076 such reviews, and 19,658 in 2024. Against this, solely 199 had been recorded in 2021, and 10,797 in 2022.
A big portion of the instances in 2025 contain unlawful foreign money transfers referred to as “hwanchigi”. These schemes embrace criminals exchanging illicit cash into cryptocurrency by platforms overseas.
Between 2021 and August 2025, roughly $7.1 billion in crypto-related felony instances had been referred to prosecutors by the KCS. Round 90% of this quantity, roughly $6.4 billion, was linked to hwanchigi.
In a single case from Could 2025, officers uncovered a dealer accused of illegally transferring $42 million between South Korea and Russia utilizing Tether
$1.00
. Authorities claimed that two Russian people carried out over 6,000 unlawful transactions throughout an 18-month interval beginning in 2023.
Lawmaker Jin Sung-joon has referred to as for stronger cooperation between the KCS and the FIU. He has urged them to enhance their skill to hint unlawful transfers and forestall funds from being hidden by complicated cryptocurrency strategies.
Not too long ago, South Korea’s Monetary Providers Fee (FSC) proposed a invoice to control stablecoins pegged to the South Korean received. What does the invoice embrace? Learn the complete story.
