South Korean Court Overturns Bithumb'S 6-Month Suspension

Court Grants Stay, Exchange Resumes Normal Operations

A South Korean court overturned @BithumbOfficial's six-month partial business suspension on Thursday, with Judge Gong Hyeon-jin of the 2nd Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court accepting the exchange's application for a stay of execution on the same day it was presented.

The partial suspension would have halted the transfer of external virtual assets for new customers — what would have been the harshest sanction ever imposed on a Korean won-based cryptocurrency exchange. Judge Gong cited potential irreparable harm to the exchange if core functions remained restricted.

The suspension had been ordered in March by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which also levied a fine of 36.8 billion won ($24.6 million), although it remains unclear whether the financial penalty is included in the stay. The FIU had alleged approximately 6.65 million violations, of which 3.55 million were related to insufficient customer due diligence obligations, and 3.04 million involved failure to properly intercept restricted transactions.

The suspension was originally set to take effect on March 27, but Bithumb filed an administrative lawsuit and sought an injunction on March 23, keeping the sanctions on hold until Thursday's ruling. The court has now allowed the exchange to continue normal operations during the ongoing administrative lawsuit process.

A Pattern of Pushback Against FIU Enforcement

Since early last year, the FIU imposed heavy penalties on the nation's largest won-based crypto exchanges — including Upbit operator Dunamu, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit — for violating the Special Financial Transactions Act. All except Korbit have filed administrative lawsuits to overturn these sanctions, raising broader questions over the FIU's sanction framework.

The Bithumb ruling had been widely anticipated, following a similar case involving Dunamu, which won a first-instance administrative ruling on April 9. The court in that case said operators' self-initiated compliance efforts should be considered in the absence of clear regulatory guidelines. The FIU has since appealed.

The Bithumb ruling is likely to raise further questions over the legal basis of the FIU's sanctions approach. The court victory follows separate reports that South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission has initiated a probe into Upbit, Bithumb, and other platforms regarding the sharing of order books with overseas platforms.