Bithumb will no longer allow withdrawals to unverified crypto wallets

abdelaziz Fathi

Bithumb, one of South Korea’s big four exchanges — alongside Coinone, Korbit, and Upbit — exchange is moving to block the use of anonymous wallets.

Bithumb

Starting January 27, the leading crypto platform announced that its users will not be able to withdraw their crypto assets to unverified private wallets.

Citing the need to ensure that customers are not using crypto for illegal activities such as money laundering, Bithumb users will have to register their external wallets with the exchange. This requires submitting personal information such as full name, email addresses, and mobile phone number. Otherwise, they will no longer be allowed to withdraw their funds held at their exchange accounts.

Bithumb, however, has indicated that it will accept withdrawals to external wallets that apply stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. This includes custodial wallets at centralized exchanges like Kraken, Bitstamp, Blockchain.com, Bybit and Binance.US.

To the contrary, wallets that do not have their own KYC system such as MetaMask, Trezor, and Ledger, will no longer be usable for Bithumb customers.

The move comes barely a month after Coinone, also one of the “Big Four” crypto exchanges in South Korea, stopped withdrawals to non-verified external wallets.

Exchanges without qualifications face closure

Korean regulators have taken a series of measures to curb suspicious crypto transactions. For instance, the country’s crypto exchanges are mandated to various requirements such as data maintenance, internal controls, reporting illegal transactions, and performing KYC to verify customer identities.

Less than half of Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges met a legal deadline to put themselves under regulatory supervision. However, they still face challenges such as risks from legal breaches and an inability to convert coins into Korean won. On top of these stricter rules, crypto exchanges must obtain a security certificate from the Information Security Management System (ISMS).

Industry experts estimate that more than 35 exchanges will discontinue their operation or reduce services. They will have to cease their service either because they failed to register with the nation’s anti-money laundering body, or because they were unable to have real-name bank accounts issued by commercial banks.

Upon completing real-name verification and partnering with a local bank, digital assets platforms are required to acquire a license from the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). This is a unit of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the country’s top financial regulator.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Masa and LayerZero: Bridging Blockchains for Data Sovereignty

Masa Network is poised to revolutionize the personal data landscape with its upcoming launch as a cross-chain platform, making it accessible on a variety of blockchains right from the start.

Digital Assets

Big Time Generates over $100M in Revenue since Preseason

Innovative game developer Big Time Studios announces that its highly anticipated free-to-play multiplayer action/MMO RPG Big Time, has generated $100M in revenue. According to the team, players transacted a total volume of over $230M, without selling a single token.

Digital Assets

Centralized exchanges are 10 times more popular than DEXs in Western Europe

Western European traders are found to prefer centralized exchanges over decentralized ones as CEX traffic outpaces DEXs by a factor of ten.

Market News

Stock Market Analysis: Is NVDA Losing Its Leadership?

Since the beginning of the week, the S&P 500 Index (US500) has seen a modest increase of about 0.58%, whereas NVDA’s share price has experienced a decline of approximately 3.8%. This recent divergence raises concerns among Nvidia stock investors — could it signify a loss of NVDA’s market leadership?

Industry News

ESG: Australian regulator wins first greenwashing court case against Vanguard

Vanguard admitted that a notable portion of the securities within both the Index and the Fund did not undergo the promised ESG scrutiny.

Fintech, Uncategorized

BitMEX integrates HALO from Solidus Labs for cross-market surveillance

“The recent approval of the Spot Bitcoin ETF has piqued the market’s interest. As a result of price volatility, the trading volumes for crypto derivatives have gone up substantially. HALO, with its advanced technology and crypto-native detection architecture, will enable BitMEX to smoothly and safely scale trade surveillance across its increased trading volumes and provide the necessary safeguards for new product launches.”

Reviews

IUX Broker Review

IUX, recently rebranded from IUX Markets, stands as a multi-asset Forex broker recognized for its regulatory compliance across various jurisdictions.

Industry News

Horizon Software rebrands to Horizon Trading Solutions

“Horizon Trading Solutions has seen accelerated global growth over the past year to meet the rising demand for our trading solutions and built-for-purpose technology offering. The choice to rebrand represents a key part of this development, while maintaining our heritage and history in the industry.”

Market News

USDJPY has surged to levels last witnessed in 2022. Should we consider opening a short position?

The recent resurgence of the US dollar has propelled USD/JPY to new heights, touching levels not seen since 2022. This surge comes against the backdrop of stable short-term yields and ongoing economic data that fails to signal a significant slowdown, prompting questions about the extent of current monetary easing measures.

<