South Korean authorities seized $47 million from crypto tax evaders as 12,000 people in the country had their cryptocurrneices confiscated so let’s read more in our latest cryptocurrency news today.
Officials in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi seized $47 million in crypto from tax evaders and now the exchanges in the country started delisting the coins ahead of the new regulations that are coming into force. The South Korean authorities seized $47 million in crypto after performing one of the largest tax seizures in the country. The long investigation led to the confiscation of $47 million in ETH, BTC, and other cryptos as per the Financial times so officials called the event the biggest crypto seizure for back taxes in Korean history.
Gyeonggi is the most popular province in South Korea and it includes Seoul as well. The officials seized funds from 12,000 tax evaders by connecting their activity on crypto exchanges with their phone numbers. The investigators parse through the data manually because most exchanges didn’t collect formal identification of the account holders and it is unclear which exchanges were investigated. However, the exchanges’ lack of formal KYC identification was one of the key drivers behind South Korea’s regulatory crackdown. The National Assembly of South Korea passed a new law demanding the local exchanges to comply with AML and terrorist financing guidelines from the Financial Action Task Force. The crypto exchanges had to earn approval from the Financial Services Commission as well and the Korean Internet and Security Agency before September 24, 2021.
The law included new requirements for identifying the users as well as the clarity on which the assets can be listed. If the project’s coin had low volume, the inactive development or the missing clear channel of communication with the team will be a subject to delisting. Upbit one of the big four exchanges in South Korea already started delisting a few coins and the platform was one of the firsts to earn the license and to continue operating in South Korea.
As for the much smaller exchanges, compliance has been difficult which is because the platforms have to partner with the bank to earn a license. Banks however are most of the time reluctant to associate with crypto exchanges and create what one operator called a “existential crisis.”
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