According to a statement released on Thursday, South Korea's anti-money laundering agency is pursuing 16 foreign cryptocurrency companies that it claims have been operating there without the necessary regulatory approval. The organisations advertised cryptocurrency and provided services to Koreans without being properly registered, according to the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), a division of South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC). 

A report released by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), which is a part of the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC), highlighted that the firms advertised crypto without obtaining the proper registration and offered services to Koreans without being registered. The KoFIU has warned the authorities that the 16 companies may have failed to comply with their "registration obligations," and it intends to warn the financial regulators in the nations where the companies are headquartered.  

KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, ZB.com, Bitglobal, CoinW, CoinEX, AAX, ZoomEX, Poloniex, BTCEX, BTCC, DigiFinex, and Pionex are among the companies it claimed were engaging in "illegal commercial activity." The Financial Transaction Reports Act, which was passed in September of last year, made registration for cryptocurrency businesses in the nation mandatory. Following the collapse of Do Kwon's Terraform Labs, a company he started in Korea, in May, efforts to regulate the sector have stepped up. The maximum penalty for breaking the registration rules is five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million South Korean won ($38,000). Additionally, the company will be prohibited from becoming a virtual asset service provider (VASP) in the nation for an undetermined amount of time. 

All 16 exchanges allegedly participated in business activities targeting local consumers that involves providing Korean-language websites, hosting marketing campaigns aimed at Korean customers, and allowing credit card payments for bitcoin transactions. The Financial Transactions Report Act applies to each and every one of these actions. 

Since Terra's collapse, prosecutors have raided seven exchanges. The FSC announced earlier this month that it will hasten the adoption of new regulations to control the cryptocurrency market. Transfers using credit cards and transfers of digital currency to and from unregistered businesses would be prohibited "to prevent their usage in the domestic market." 

The organization also cautioned cryptocurrency users against using unregistered sites since doing so could expose them to "risks of personal information breach and hacking."