South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges are banned from processing their own issued coins

In recent years, the increasing regulatory scrutiny in the cryptocurrency sector in South Korea appears to have been extended to include exchange tokens.

Exchange tokens are tokens issued by cryptocurrency exchanges, which usually provide some benefits to holders by reducing transaction fees, regularly destroying tokens, or other means.

According to a report Arirang said on Thursday that cryptocurrency exchanges are prohibited from handling any coins or assets issued by themselves. The law also applies to any assets issued by family members, spouses or distant relatives, and is expected to take effect on June 26.

Companies that do not comply with the new regulations may be suspended from operations and face fines of up to $88,000.

Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Recently contacted 33 cryptocurrency trading platforms notified them of their upcoming on-site consultations before September 24.In the next week or so, a South Korean exchange Upbit delisted a small number of tokens, and Issue a sharp investment warning Among the other 25 assets, it accounts for 14% of all tokens listed on the exchange.

Looking to the future, Upbit will no longer accept inbound deposits of the 25 tokens mentioned in the warning, and stated that it will further review the assets to decide whether to delist them completely. The deadline for making a final decision on the token is Friday, June 18.

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South Korea is trying to strengthen the control of the cryptocurrency industry within its borders. Regulators require crypto trading platforms to provide information security management system certificates, which are basically used as operating licenses. Of the 20 exchanges using certificates, 11 have delisted their tokens or issued warnings similar to Upbit.

Given that many exchange tokens do not run on proprietary blockchains, as the cleanup of Korean tokens continues, in the coming days and weeks, a legal definition of what it means to “handle” exchange-issued tokens may be Will be extended.