Bithumb exchange will ban trading in 11 countries

South Korea's largest currency exchange, Bithumb, will ban trading of digital assets with investors in North Korea, Iran, Iraq and eight other countries.

Due to the growing threat of money laundering using cryptocurrencies, Bithumb will prohibit transactions to citizens in North Korea, Iran, Iraq and eight other countries that are listed on the NCCT list. 

The NCCT list includes countries with insufficient regulatory policies and non-standardized anti-money laundering regulations that do not cooperate with the FATF and are designated as high-risk countries. The list includes North Korea, Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka, for a total of 11 countries.

With Bithumb ranking first in South Korea and sixth in the world in terms of trading volume, this decision is expected to have serious consequences for the cryptocurrency market.

On May 27, Bithumb announced that it has decided to stop conducting transactions in all countries controlled by the NCCT Initiative to prevent the use of its infrastructure for illegal operations.

The main South Korean crypto platform will deny access to new users from these countries, and from June 21 will disable the accounts of already registered users from dubious regions.  

To implement this solution, Bithumb plans to conduct a mobile identification process among foreign residents next month to eliminate the possibility of falsification of personal data and place of residence of users. In the future, all users must also be identified through their mobile phone during the registration process.

In order to prevent fraud, including voice phishing, Bithumb has developed its own rules.

A representative of Bithumb noted that the company consciously applies strict policies and close cooperation with local monetary authorities, hoping to improve international crypto trading norms. 

This selective ban on registering accounts on the exchange demonstrated Bithumb's intention to avoid any potential conflicts with regulators and its willingness to accept strict regulatory rules to ensure transparency in the digital market.