South Korea’s top four crypto exchanges announce joint AML initiative

South Korea’s four largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Upbit, today announced a joint initiative to increase anti-money laundering (AML) efforts and foster a healthier trading environment.

A hotline dedicated to AML issues will be established amongst the four exchanges’ respective teams responsible for user protection and fraud detection. Wallet information involving trades with suspected connections to voice phishing, predatory lending, pyramid schemes, and other illegal activities will be shared in real time through the hotline, allowing relevant exchanges to protect their users by preventing further transfer of assets.

The exchanges are expected to provide significantly greater user protection by operating a collective database of suspicious wallet addresses. In the case of a scammer looking to utilize various exchanges to disperse a large number of assets to the same wallet, all four exchanges will be able to identify and prevent such activities via the shared database.

The joint AML initiative is expected to produce significant results as all four exchanges currently employ effectual user protection and fraud detection practices. In addition, the exchanges have experience operating bank-authenticated virtual accounts, resulting in strong relationships with traditional financial institutions.

Along with the Korea Blockchain Association’s self-regulatory framework and ISMS authentication by individual exchanges, the new initiative will serve a key role in improving the overall health of the industry. The four exchanges plan to expand the initiative and improve efficiency by including additional exchanges that share high AML standards.