The effect of the six-month partial business suspension imposed on Bithumb by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has been halted.
The Administrative Division 2 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Gong Hyun-jin, Director General) on the 30th decided to suspend the effect of the six-month partial business suspension imposed on Bithumb by the head of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit on the 17th of last month until the 30th day from the date of the ruling in the main case.
The court said it decided to suspend the effect because Bithumb could face difficulty attracting new customers due to the partial business suspension.
The court noted, "If the effect of this disposition is not suspended, deposits and withdrawals of virtual assets to and from external wallets by newly registered customers will be restricted for six months," and added, "Although trading of virtual assets within the exchange and conversion to won are said to be possible, deposits and withdrawals of virtual assets from outside, including inter-exchange transfers, are also functions of an exchange, and even limiting such functions alone is expected to make it difficult to attract new customers."
The court viewed that participation by listed companies and professional investor-registered corporations in the virtual asset transaction market is expected to be allowed soon, and that if Bithumb's partial business suspension continues, it will negatively affect the attraction of new customers such as listed companies.
The court determined that even if a ruling after the main hearing orders the cancellation of the partial business suspension, it would be difficult for Bithumb to reverse negative effects in the meantime, such as restrictions on attracting new customers and reputational damage.
Earlier, on the 16th of last month, the FIU said Bithumb violated 6.65 million instances of obligations, including the duty to prohibit transactions with unreported virtual asset service providers under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, the customer due diligence obligation, and the duty to restrict transactions, and in March imposed heavy sanctions including a six-month partial business suspension along with fines of 36.8 billion won. Bithumb, disputing the FIU sanctions, filed an administrative lawsuit and an application for a stay of execution with the court on the 23rd of the same month.