Bithumb will lower the withdrawal limit for anonymous clients

According to reports, one of South Korea's largest crypto exchanges, Bithumb, has announced a gradual reduction in the withdrawal limit for all accounts that have not passed real name verification, citing financial crime risks.

According to MTN, Bithumb said on Monday that it has “decided to gradually reduce the limit on withdrawals from customer accounts that have not passed real name verification” starting June 4. The announcement follows confirmation that the exchange will block trading in 11 countries, including North Korea, Iran and Iraq, and will also increase verification of foreign user accounts.

South Korean regulatorsestablished rules for the real name verification system in late January to stop anonymous cryptocurrency trading. However, few people attached their names to the accounts. At the beginning of May, only 30% of users switched to such accounts. As of today, cryptocurrency trading in unregistered accounts is still possible. 

According to Bithumb, about 60% of clients did not want to provide their data necessary for account verification. Currently, the daily withdrawal limit is 50 million won (~$46.46) and the monthly limit is 300 million won (~$278.75).

Initially, if the account is not verified by real name, the daily limit will be reduced to 45 million won starting next month. While the exchange has yet to make an announcement regarding how low the limit will ultimately be, a Bithump spokesperson said: “We have decided to gradually reduce withdrawal amounts in Korean won due to growing concerns that bank accounts may be the target of various financial crimes.”

Additionally, Bithumb also announced on Monday that it has “first-class information security personnel and a budget system.” According to Resolution No. 5-5-7 of South Korean regulators, 5% of the total workforce of a financial organization must be IT specialists, 5% of which must work to ensure information security, and 7% of the company's total budget must be used to ensure confidentiality.

Bithump representatives clarified:

“In May 2018, the share of IT specialists from all current employees is 21%. 10% of them are IT employees responsible for information security.. In addition, approximately 8% of the total annual budget is used to support data protection-related activities."

According to news.bitcoin.